Chemical reaction
by Eevil-Faerie
Summary: [new chapter]Misao met with this arrogant guy while she's drunk. The next day she found out that that guy is her chemistry teacher.And he recognized her. But that's just the beginning of her problem... AxM YxT AU OOC
1. Intro

**Chemical Reaction**

**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Prologue**

My life sucks. Big time.

I can't believe that guy. He cheated on me. With an old ugly hag. I have been sniffing at him for some time, after I accidentally read a message in his hand phone. Since that I have my suspicions that he have been cheating on me.

So I followed him tonight, and found myself in a 5 star hotel. And I found myself following him to an exclusive suite. And found myself pressing my ears to the door, trying to make out any sounds. And lo behold, the worst of my nightmare have come true. I heard the worst.

I know that compared to that woman, I lose, hand's down. With that thought, I tried to drown my sorrow. With a bottle of tiger beer I bought from a convenience store (the cashier stared at me though, I am after all underage) I went to a park and tried to have my first sip of alcohol.

It's all my fault. It's all my fault for falling in love with older guys. That guy is in college, and I'm just a high school kid. He wouldn't be satisfied with an immature kid like me anyways. I knew some day he would leave me for other smart and mature women with womanly curves.

I took a sip. Eww.

After 3 sips, I feel my head spins. I am such a loser, I can't even drink!

After I finished the drink, I went down on the wooden park bench and begin crying out loud. Wailing shrilly. Torrents of tears poured down my face. I bawled even worst than babies that needed their diaper changed. The empty tin of bear is carelessly thrown at the bench. It hit something hard with a dull thud. I'm wrecked with uncontrollable spasm resulted from too much bawling. I thumped my head continuously on the bench.

Until a deep voice interrupted me.

"Excuse me?" he said. I ignored that voice and continued crying and wailing at the same time.

"Well, excuse me?" he continued coldly.

I sat upright and wiped off my tears and some sticky mixture that I hope wasn't snot, and cried out loud in anger, "Well, sorry for being sad because I have been dumped tonight!!"

"Well, sorry for interrupting you. Please, do continue your crying on my lap, throwing me empty bear cans and hitting me with your hard head. Please do," he said. I tuned around to see a tall man sitting on the bench next to me. My face contorted with horror as I recalled that I wasn't in fact lying face down on the bench crying, but instead it's on that guy's lap!!

In my drunken haze I didn't even notice that guy was here from the very beginning.

"Let me leave you here with your misery and let me find another place where people like me can have some peace and quiet," he said and sat up abruptly. He wiped his pants, at my horror as I noticed it is wet with my tears, and threw we a cold look and he walked away swiftly.

I shook my head, and signaled something unladylike, something I wouldn't do if I was sober behind his retreating back. And I noticed that there is something on the bench. It was a handkerchief. I took it and wiped my tears with it.

Well, at least he accidentally left me with something as useful as this.

I am still sad. Sad. And then my cell phone vibrates. I opened it and answered the call.

"Misao?? Where are you?" It is the voice of my best friend. I cried.

"Kaoru, I'm at the park. The usual place"

"I'll be there right away!!" She said and ended the call. I closed my cell and continued wailing.

Today is the worst day ever.

The next day

Hello, my name is Misao. I live with my quirky grandfather in a restaurant. And several of our permanent workers live here too. Actually, we don't sleep inside the restaurant, we live upstairs of the Aoiya restaurant. Our restaurant is especially famous for our special Korean barbecue, which only uses the freshest ingredients with our own secret marinating technique and special secret recipe sauce. Not to mention the warm environment and the friendly atmosphere we created here are not to be found elsewhere. Okay, enough of promoting our restaurant.

Back to the story, last night, there have been this party being held in the restaurant, and being short of worker, as usual, yours truly have been helping with all the preparing and serving and cleaning. And to your information, being a Korean barbecue house, the cleaning part is the hardest work in the Aoiya. You see, all the grease from the barbecue tends to spot on the table and the plates, and it's very hard to clean. Not to mention wastage. The customers tend to grab a lot, and eat a little. A down side to a buffet style dining. Since I have been assigned to the cleaning part, which like I have been explaining, the hardest and most tiring work in the restaurant, and I spent all night trying to clean everything. No sleep. Seriously, I haven't slept a wink.

So that explains why I slept in class just now. Seriously. No offense, it's not because that your class is boring. It's just because I am dead tired and I have not slept last night. So please sensei I beg for your forgiveness and I promised from now on no matter how hard I worked and how sad is it that I never slept a wink last night I will not choose our class to sleep in. Thank you.

I wiped my hand and looked at the white board. I have to write an apology on the white board because I slept in the last class. And this is the result of my creativity. And it left the last teacher with a frown on her forehead.

Kaoru whispered at me.

"You are such a liar!"

"I know," I winked at her. And both of us giggled.

I took a last look at my writing and tried to wipe it off. But before I could do so a hand reached and grabbed my hand, stilling my actions.

"Can I read it?" said a familiar voice. I turned around to find myself staring (but I have to look up until my neck ached, this guy is so tall) at the man holding my hand. I nodded in response to his question.

He begins to read everything out loud.

"Poor Misao. She's been working hard last night. She could get some rest in my class. Go on, take a nap," he said nicely, and smiled. But his smile doesn't reach his eyes. Who is sarcastic guy?

"No thanks. Who are you anyway?"

"I forgot to introduce myself. I am Aoshi Shinomori. You may call me Mr. Shinomori. And from today I will be your homeroom teacher. And I will be teaching all of you Chemistry. And please take a seat Miss Misao," he gestured at me. I frowned at him and sat at my desk.

He looks like that guy last night.

And it looks like he recognized me.

Oh my god!!

To be continued…


	2. Ch 1

**Summary:** Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Disclaimer:**I don't own anything. Especially RK characters.

_I'm a little bit sporadic with the updates, sorry. :P. And thanks a lot for those who reviewed!! And thanks a lot for those who reviewed: Stela, Ai-so, Mizuume and Koiishi13. If not for you guys I will not continue this story. _

**Chapter 1**

Okay, maybe I need to swallow my words. He looks like that guy last night. But it doesn't look like he recognized me at all. Since the words we exchanged back then, he has not even looked my way. He walked around the classroom, while asking random students to go up in front to write some what appears to me gibberish.

I hate chemistry, and the only formula I know is H2O. And of course CO2. And that's the extend of my chemical knowledge. My current grade in this subject is D. And it's not getting any higher. In fact it's going downhill, and reaching F soon.

I turned sideways to look at him. Mr. Aoshi Shinomori. He is cute. Okay, maybe cute is not the exact word to describe his looks. He looks is more towards the handsome side. Handsome? Yeah, and cool. Cool to the point of being chilly and frosty with everyone. Broody. And silent. He is tall. I'm a midget, I admit it, it makes everyone taller compared to me. But he towered over me. I'm like a tiny shrub and he is like the coconut tree.

His eyes are the most striking feature he has. The two, arctic blue eyes, with piercing and freezing cold gaze he bestowed on regular basis upon the public which are disturbing, intimidating, and yet, strangely attractive. I could see his eyes, icy blue, and they are bottomless pits, with not a scrap of emotion showing in those depths.

It's feels like he is a transmitter and is receiving my thoughts I've been sending, when he suddenly looks at me. Our eyes met. My heart race for a while, and I tried keeping my face blank and empty of thought; pretending that I haven't been staring at him the whole time but daydreaming, but unconsciously staring at his direction. His mouth curved up a little, whether he thinks that I am amusing or not I don't know. This guy is an enigma, unreadable. He ignored me and continued reading from the book he's holding and droning on and on about something to do with a periodic table that we have to memorize.

Is he even the guy last night? Because last night at the park, it was dark. And I was a little bit drunk. The thing that made me suspects that my teacher is that guy last night is his voice. The voice is similar. Very similar pitch and tone. The emotionless vibe I feel from it and the sarcasm in his words.

And I have evidence in my hand about the identity of the guy. The handkerchief he left on the bench. When I went home I will through process and do an autopsy on that piece of clothing.

An eraser flew and bounced off my shoulders, falling on the dusty floor. I turned sharply and stared at the culprit. Kaoru smiled wickedly and threw a paper airplane towards me. I caught it and immediately read what was written on the paper wing.

"Stop drooling over our new teacher" is what she wrote.

I smirked. And took a black gel ink pen to write a sarcastic remark back to her. Suddenly a large dark cloud hovered over me, blocking all the sunlight, leaving me in the dark. When I look up, I found myself staring at the black cloud, which is in the form of our homeroom teacher. He towered over me, looking menacing.

"Passing notes during class?" he said softly, but I could sense the animosity behind his words.

I quickly rumpled the paper plane and sat on it. And shook my head, and looked at him with the most innocent face, the expression I always made to get away from something with my grandfather. I work wonders on him, but it doesn't seem to work on my teacher.

"Give it to me, if you don't want to get expelled," he said is such a tone, even though I knew it would be impossible to be expelled by only passing notes in class, I believe, by hook or by crook, he will do whatever it takes to make it happen, to take me down.

I meekly took the crumpled notes from under my butt and slowly offered it to him as a peace offering. He took it and read it. And I see again that small twitch at his lips, accompanied with a subtle raise of an eyebrow.

"Stop drooling over our new teacher," he read it out loud, and showed the notes to the class.

There was an immediate burst of laughter and a lot of cat calling and people pointing at me and chattering behind their hands. Kaoru looked aghast, and mouthed to me, "I'm so sorry," I shrugged at her, forgiving her. But I'm mortified by this. My face is burning up, and I feel like I want to bury my face in the floor to hide it from the world.

He is so MEAN!! I totally HATE him.

I feel that tears of mortification are filling my eyes to the brim.

He walked towards me and laid down that piece of paper he's been showing to the entire class on my desk. And he looked at me, disapprovingly. I looked up, trying to look defiant even though my eyes are a little watery at that very moment.

He lowered his head down and looked directly at my eyes. My face and his face are an inch apart. I could even feel the heat permeating from his skin. He smirked. And tilted his head so that his mouth is directly in close proximity with my ears, but not directly touching. I could feel my ears tingling.

"This is offense number three. I will see you in my office this afternoon." he said that and immediately he is gone, walking back to the front of the classroom.

What was that all about? Offenses number three? As far as I remembered, all I do is passing notes. And that's only one offense. Maybe he did count my daydreaming as a second offense. The third offense? What is it?

Maybe it is about last night. Maybe he remembered I was drunk last night. Maybe he took offense when I threw the beer can at him. Or when I head butted him on his lap.

Oh no! I'm so getting a detention.

The bell rings, signaling the end of Mr. Aoshi Shinomori's reign over our class. He took all the books and teaching materials and with 2 quick strides, reached the door leading to the corridor outside of our class. He turned the door know slowly, and stopped for a second, and I could feel our eyes met. His gaze made me feel like a deer caught in the headlights. He smiled as everyone greeted him and took off.

His actions are a mystery to me, all right.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Misao. I didn't mean to get you into trouble," I heard Kaoru said as she approaches me and put a hand on my shoulder, gripping it gently, trying to soothe me. I shrugged.

"It's okay, it's no big deal."

"Well, at least his responses were good,"Kaoru said after a second.

I raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"His response is not good at all. He basically made the whole class know I'm drooling after him. I bet that gave him a major ego boost all the way to the roof. Argh, that smug male chauvinist pig. Grr I'm so mad at him,"

"Come on. I could see the way you were flirting all the time. He couldn't keep his eyes off you. And he made the fact public so he could stake a claim on you,"

"Well, that is one positive way of seeing that. But I am NOT AMUSED!! He will taste my wrath when I met him after the classes."

"You are going to meet him after class? In his office? Misao, I knew you were daring when you dated the college guy back then…"Kaoru stopped for a second and gazed longingly at Enishi Yukishiro, who is sitting next to Kenshin Himura. Enishi and Kaoru are best friends forever, but I could feel that the feeling she kept inside for him are more than what friends feel for each other. Kaoru sighed and continued.

"Hell, I don't even have a boyfriend yet. But this? You really have a fetish for older guys huh? All you have to know is I'll be cheering you on. You go girl" Kaoru winked at me.

"Very funny," I rolled my eyes and tried to tickle Kaoru. She shrieked and laughed as she danced away from my touch.

That guy, he came suddenly into my life and chaos ensues. He is infuriating, annoying, even a little bit mean to me. But I can't deny that he intrigues me. A lot.

That afternoon, I paced along the corridor several times before eventually stopping in front of his office. I stared at the lettering on the door, golden letters spelling his name. Aoshi Shinomori. I repeat his name over and over again as my right hand crept to the doorknob, trying to find the courage to open this door and face my nightmare.

I let out a loud sigh and grabbed the handle tightly. As I was about to twist it open, the door flung open with such a force, it took me by surprise and I tripped, falling flat on my face. As I gather myself up from this embarrassing position, I saw that he is holding out a helping hand. I used a hand to clean my uniform from any mess and another to hold his hand as he pulled me up in a standing position.

I seem to have this knack of embarrassing myself in front of him. Oh my god he must think that I am such a klutz. I looked at him to see his mouth twitching, very hard to notice unless you are in close proximity like me, and he looks like he is in the verge of laughing. I threw him my poisonous stare and he glared back.

"Well, have a seat. I have a lot to discuss with you young lady," he said, and I feel a tingle of fright, and I feel like there's something crawling on my skin, and with his tone of voice is without any emotion, cold and empty, it feels as if he said he was about to announce a public execution.

I knew it. I'm getting a detention.

To be continued...


	3. Ch 2

**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Disclaimer:**I don't own anything. Especially RK characters.

_I am overwhelmed by the response I got! Wow, thanks! Anyway check my other story Rules of attraction, the inspiration for this story and are set in the same universe, but more focused of the complicated relationship between Kenshin, Tomoe, Enishi and Kaoru. sorry for the shameless plug. Thank for those who review the last chapter : mimi, anime.fushigi, gwen, s makn and to MagicallyYours._

**Chapter 2**

His heat lingers on my skin from his touch back them when he helped me get back up. I rubbed at the very spot where our skins met, trying to make it all go away.

I looked around. His office is rather cozy, with a huge desk right at the center, piled with files and books and miscellaneous things. Messy desk. There's also a single flat screen monitor in the middle of the mountains of paper he had on the desk. There also another smaller table with two comfy chairs around it on the right side of the room. And I could see that there's a teapot on it, with two empty tea cups.

Interesting. He has been expecting me. He even made me a steaming pot of tea.

Maybe I misinterpreted his tone of voice earlier. Maybe he asked me to see him for other reasons than to tell me that I will be punished. Maybe he is…I don't know…looking for someone to keep him company? Is this a date?

Mental head slap.

No matter how attractive this creature is, he is after all my teacher, and much older than my college ex-boyfriend. He wouldn't try to involve romantically with me. Me, an unattractive midget with boyish figure, and totally zero sex appeal to the opposite sex. The only feminine thing is my hair. It's long, and I've braided it carefully every day before I step outside of my home.

And what about the student-teacher status. People frown upon any romantic relationship between a teacher and a student. He might even be fired if he has any relationship with his students.

It's not if I'm considering it.

No I'm not attracted to him the slightest!

Because I don't think he'll reciprocate my feeling.

Another mental head slap. What am I thinking!

"Welcome to my office," he murmured, gesturing at the comfy chair I've set eyes onto earlier on. I sat down quickly. And I took the cute teacup and examined it, curious. I don't know a lot about teacups, but I could tell that this one is expensive. It's made with fine china and its hand painted in gold and silver, forming a pattern that looks to me like small flowers.

"Like to have a cup of tea with me?" he gestured to my cup, so I gently laid down the cup on the tabletop. I smiled at him.

"Love too," I agreed. Immediately, he took the teapot. I watched him, fascinated by the way he grasped the teapot, with his long, slender fingers, and the graceful motion as he poured a stream of steaming water into my cup. He poured himself a cup of tea and set the teapot down.

Damn, I even find his fingers are attractive. Maybe Kaoru is right. Maybe I have some weird fetish about older men. Someone please! Help me to stop noticing all the small details about him.

"Go on," he said to me while sipping his drink. I took my cup tentatively, and in the corner of my eyes I could see him, closing his eyes, savoring the taste of the hot beverage.

I find his motions, sensuous, and sexy. Damn.

What's wrong with him? He asked me to come here to drink tea? All right, if that's what he wants me to do, so be it.

I took a sip.

"Tea is a great drink, huh, compared to all other beverages in the world. It's healthy. " I said, making small talks. Trying to dispel the tension I felt. He nodded.

"I agree. I'll take tea any time, compared coffee. Juices. Or alcoholic beverages. I'm a tea connoisseur. I have a lot of collection. Green tea? Lapsang souchong? Earl Grey? Darjeeling? I have almost everything here" He gestured to the cabinet beside him. I nearly gaped at his tea collection. The cabinet is overflowed with tea. By the quantity of it he could open a store exclusively selling tea.

Wait, did he mention alcoholic beverages? Is he hinting something? Or am I just way too paranoid?

Anyway, he's not a tea connoisseur. He's a tea freak!

"Uh? And what am I drinking now?" I eyed the drink in front of me. He let out a soft chuckle.

"Just an ordinary tea. I wouldn't dare to make you try any other exotic types, would I?" he said.

"Try me," I said, and smiled at him. He raised an eyebrow, and flashed me a rather weird smile.

"Right. You would. I can feel that you are rather adventurous," a rather subtle smirk appeared.

I don't know why, but the way he said that, it makes it sound rather kinky in my ears. And the way our eyes met, and the intense gaze he gave me made me sweat under my skin. After all, I'm alone in the room with him. I'm a woman, he's a man.

Tea is an aphrodisiac after all. And the aromatic steam, it really does wonders to you.

Mental head slap. Get your mind out off the gutter Misao!!

On the other side, is he implying something? Adventurous as in brave enough to drink and get drunk? Is he implying that he knew it was me last night?

I AM getting paranoid.

"Err…sir…why am I here, actually?" I tried to change the topic.

"What do you think?" he asked me, and watched me, trying to read my reaction.

What do I think? Only one word has been bouncing around my head ever since I was pacing along the corridor outside of his office.

"Detention?" I said meekly.

He shook his head, but I could feel his amusement. He took 3 separate blank A4 papers and handed them over to me. And he handed me a blue pen and crossed his arms, watching my reaction. I am baffled. And I looked at him, questioningly.

"Write in each paper your offense. Three separate offenses. Write why you did them and why you will never repeat the same behavior ever again. Now, will you excuse me. I have some work to do. Remember I will not let you go if you did not fill those papers."

Great. I have no idea why that the teachers here love to give this kind of punishment to me. Did they really think that I will repent quickly if I wrote these reflection essays? I let out a loud sigh and resigned to the task, while he got up and walked to his desk, and begin typing something on his pc.

Paper number one I filled it with saying I was sorry for daydreaming in the class. The second paper I filled it with saying I was sorry for passing notes in class. The third one, I have no idea what to write so I took a wild guess and said I was sorry for coming late to school. I really have no idea what is my third offense, and I have this nagging suspicion it's about the drunken state I am in last night.

While I was wrapping up the essay about why I was late and how did it happen and how I will never repeat the same mistake again in the near future, and as soon as I finished writing I immediately swiveled my head to his direction to tell him that I am finished with my work. That action resulted in my cheek bumping into something. In horror I realized that I was so wrapped up in writing it that I never realized that he have left his armchair and is standing behind me, lowering himself to take a closer look at what am I writing.

Our faces bumped with each other hard. I feel a spark of pain. I immediately jumped out of my seat in shock. I touched my right cheek with my palm, which is twitching with pain, and stared at him. He looked unconcerned, but his right hand fingers are rubbing his cheekbones gently.

"Ouch," he said softly.

"I'm so sorry!!"

"No, don't worry. You can bruise my cheek any time, just tell me, my cheek is all yours" he said in his trademark emotionless voice, but I seem to detect a hint of sarcasm.

That tone. That voice. That same type of response. That sardonic remark. He is the guy last night. I'm positive.

I quickly gave him my papers and prepared to take off in fright. But he stopped me.

"You don't remember me, do you?" his voice dropped to a low baritone.

I could feel my eyes widening and bulging with horror. He remembered about last night!!

I immediately tried to dash out of his office, but his strides are far too long and he managed to grab me before I could bolt. He pulled me away from the door and turned the doorknob, until I heard a small click. In my horror I realized that he have locked the door. He used both of his hands, and forming a fence, trapping me to the wall. I have no where to go, and he looked down at me, bending closer and closer until I could feel his breath on me. With face inches apart, he looked at me intently. I turned left, and right, trying to evade his accusing eyes frantically. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry about last night!! It was my first time trying, and I just have a few sips. I thought I was alone at that park. I promise I will never repeat that foolish behavior again! "I pleaded with him. He frowned as he looked at me, trying to process what I've said.

"Last night? At the park? It was you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" I squeaked, surprised.

"It was dark, and I was too annoyed to look carefully," he paused. And smiled.

"You don't know??" I was still reeling with shock.

If he doesn't know that I was the girl last night, it means that all this time I was afraid for nothing. And I just let my big fat mouth tell him a good reason to get me in trouble with the school authorities. Oh how stupid of me! I've learn my lesson.

"Anyway, I wasn't talking about last night," he continued.

I looked at him, blank.

"You really don't know what I'm talking about?"

I shook my head.

He shook his head and opened the locked door wide open. He moved away from me and he nudged me, signaling that I should leave his office.

"Try. To. Remember." he said cryptically before slamming the door shut at my face.

I have no idea what is he talking about and I doubt that I will know what it is anytime soon.

**To be continued...**


	4. Ch 3

**Summary:**Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

Thanks for reviewing and lots of love for those who reviewed: vtori77777,anime.fushigi,blobbub, mili, petite.ina, prettyshinomori, and fresco. I have to say that the more reviews I have the more nervous I'm with posting this chapter. Here goes.

**Chapter 3**

I immediately told Kaoru about what happened in his office, and it got her worried.

"Stay away from him from now on," she told me solemnly.

"I think that's too harsh. He did not do anything to me, "I defended him. True, he didn't do anything to me at all. Except for the small gestures he made. I remembered the way he caged me with his arms on the wall of his office and I shook my head violent, making the red hot heat that's converging on my cheek vanish.

"Yeah? But I could feel that he's hiding something. And did you remember anything? Did you meet him before you met him at the park? Think! Did you meet him at Aoiya or something? Maybe while you were serving him a drink you accidentally spilled it on his shirt so that's why he held a grudge on you?"

"No, he's not making any sense. It's the first time I saw him. It's not like a have a short term memory, I would remember seeing a handsome guy like him in Aoiya, trust me,". It's true. I have good memory about people, especially their faces. And I'm positive the first time I've met him is at the park that night.

"Yeah, you would," Kaoru admitted it.

From that day on, I have a massive feeling of dread of coming to his class. From the second class onwards, his class were held in the chemistry lab. He's teaching chemistry after all, and what is chemistry without mixing together two different potions and watch the mixture explode? Of course his classes would have to be in the lab.

This chemistry lab is very old fashioned, crying out loud for much needed renovation. It is filled with square top tables equipped with 2 with round stools each, that are uncomfortable cause it have nowhere to lean on since the stool came with no back. My lab partner is no other than Kaoru.

Today she is looking straight at our teacher who is droning on and on about something in front of the class. I'm sure by the slight glaze in her eyes that her head is the clouds. The stifling heat and the fumes left from the experiments from the class before us really made all of us sleepy.

Today he is wearing a long white plastic lab coat, and the way that piece of clothing wraps around his frame it looks like it's some classy couture designer outfit straight from the catwalk. He has his back turned to us all as he fumbled for a whiteboard marker, making me notice the way that coat rippled across his shoulders. He has such broad shoulders.

I let out an involuntary sigh. Someone as attractive like him should be made illegal to teach female students. He is writing some chemical equation on the whiteboard in blue ink..

2 H2 + O2 ?à2 H2O

What's that? Looks like gibberish to me. Oh wait, I knew the H2O. It's water. H2 is hydrogen and O2 is oxygen. Yes. I knew this!! I'm not so dumb in chemistry after all!

"This is a sample of a chemical reaction. A type of reaction that is rather common in the world." he said, and turned to face us.

"What is exactly the meaning of a chemical reaction, class?" he looked around. No one offered to answer his question, as usual.

" A chemical reaction is a process that results in the interconversion of chemical substances," he paused, gauging the reaction of the class, which is mostly blank expressions and wide eyed incomprehension, before he continued.

"Such reactions can result in molecules combining to form larger molecules, molecules breaking apart to form two or more smaller molecules, or rearrangement of atoms within or across molecules. Chemical reactions usually involve the making or breaking of chemical bonds," he looked around. And our eyes met, for a second. Since I looked like I don't understand what's he's saying, he continued talking.

"Let's take a different look at this. The substance or substances initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reactants. Miss Misao!" he suddenly said. I was so shocked I jumped from my seat and nearly toppled off it. I steadied myself and stared at him. Why did he called my name?

"Come here for a second," he said, gesturing for me to come in front.

Everyone looked at me strangely. I walked to the front of the class, eyes on the floor, trying to hide from their gaze. As I stood in front of him, I tilted my head up to look at him. He gestured for me to turn and face my classmates. I obeyed. And as I faced my classmates I flashed them a wide, yet nervous smile.

"Okay, now, imagine that both of us are reactants." he said out loud. It dawned on me that he's using me as an example. I can live with that. Although I have no idea why he choose me as his teaching aid.

"A chemical reaction may require three or more reagents, but now there's only two. Reagent number one, is me. And reagent number two is her," he explained.

"Look at us now. We are separate human beings. With completely different physical components. For example, she's female, and I'm male.," he paused. As he said that I could feel him looking at me, making me even more nervous. Ha, that's good, at least he thinks I'm a girl.

"Next, look at our difference in height." he continued. That bought a chuckle or two out from my friends.

That got a frown from me. Did he pick me up because I'm the shortest in this class, so that he could emphasize the difference between our heights? My lack of height is really a touchy issue, and it got me very annoyed that he used this fact to teach other people.

"Okay, now. Chemical reactions are characterized by a chemical change, and they yield one or more products which are, in general, different from the reactants," he suddenly took hold of my right hand and spun me around to face him. He took both of my hands and grasped them tightly, as he turned to look at his students.

"Now both of us are having a chemical change," he said.

Chemical change? All I have done is get my hands held by him. And I think my palms are getting sweaty. I will not have him feel the sweat on my hands, so I immediately tried to pry my hands free from him. He noticed my struggles, but instead of letting them go, I feel him looking at me with his aquamarine eyes, and I feel his grasp tightened. It's as if he's trying to communicate silently to me that he will not be letting me go anytime soon.

My heart's thumping irregularly now.

"Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that strictly involve the motion of electrons in the forming and breaking of chemical bonds, although the general concept of a chemical reaction, in particular the notion of a chemical equation, is applicable to transformations of elementary particles, as well as nuclear reactions."

"Now, after a chemical change, lets say that it results in molecules combining to form larger molecules,"he said it.

With a glint in his eyes, he tugged at both of my hands hard and in surprise, I lost my balance and stumbled forwards. I closed my eyes, thinking that I will fall to the floor. Instead, I feel my face bumped and squashed into something solid and my world is encompassed in the dark of the night.

"Now both of us are one, forming a larger molecule," he announced to the whole class, and I could hear a lot of noise, a combination of laughter, cheering, gasps and people talking to each other.

I was dazed for a while, trying to gather any coherent thoughts I have left. Suddenly I realized that when I have fallen forward, he blocked my fall with his chest, and he have totally enveloped me with his lab coat, locking me in his embrace with his coat. I have both of my hand on his chest, cushioning my fall, and I could feel the warmth permeating from his stomach, slowly spreading through my fingertips, leaving them tingling. I turned my head sideways and with my ears pressed against the soft material of his shirt I could hear the beating of his heart.

I'm glad that no one can see me now, hidden under his coat, cause I think I'm as red as a boiled lobster now.

"Ring any bells now?" I heard him whisper, and that broke me out my reverie.

"Eh?" I responded, bewildered.

He let go of the lab coat and released me back into reality. As I looked up to him and I could notice a slight tightening of his jaw, as if he is annoyed by something. An he turned his back towards me and continued lecturing like there's nothing happened before. I was left there, and ignored by him. With my face burning up I dashed to my seat. Kaoru looked at my red face quizzically, and shrugged when I ignored her questioning stares. And from that moment till the end of this particular class, he did not even once glance my way.

"I'll remember this lesson, forever," I muttered.

"If the finals are all about chemical reactions, you would get it all correct," Kaoru interjected, amused.

"Yeah,"I giggled.

"Love is like a chemical reaction, right ? Two people's feelings, going through a chemical process to produce a single molecule, a synthetic feeling called love, "Kaoru said, wistfully.

Never thought chemistry could be this interesting. It certainly helped by the fact that a hot teacher is teaching it.

What the heck was that back then, I thought as I lie on my bed that night, unable to sleep as my thoughts are filled with the image of him.

Mental head slap.

Stop thinking about him!

I took in all the air my lung cold hold, and exhaled them quickly.

That isn't possible to do. I have to admit, I am falling for my teacher, hard. Despite everything, I have fallen for him. It's like that he put a magic spell on me, and filled my head with thoughts of him.

But there's one thing that left me dumbfounded. I seemed to feel like he wants me to remember something. Something about him. But what is it? I have racked my brain for a long time but I still have no idea what's that very thing he wanted me to remember.

I took the handkerchief he left at the park that night from under my pillow. I hid it there in case that anyone could find it. I took it and scrutinized it. It's a plain, ordinary handkerchief. It's white, with pastel floral flowers as the border. It looked like he's being using this often, cause it looked old and washed out. There's a little stitches in the corner, forming into something I couldn't recognize. As I was scrutinizing the stitches the door to my room burst open and came in Okon and Omasu. We weren't related, but I consider them as my family member, a substitute for both my dead mother and a sister I wish I had.

"Eh. Where did you find that old thing?" Okon asked me, as I tried to hide it behind me, Omasu grabbed it and looked at it closely.

"I thought you lost it a long time ago. Never thought you would find it again after all this years." Omasu said.

"Wait. Are you saying this handkerchief belong to me?"I blurted out.

"Yeah, look, it even have your initials," Okon pointed it to me. To my horror, she is right, although it is horribly stitched and most of the thread have came lose, I could see that if formed in to two alphabets.

M.M

Misao Makimachi

To be continued…

This has to be the most difficult chapter I've written!! I had it rewritten 3 times, and still I'm not too happy with the result. What do you think? And i need know ask, what theories do you have with how Misao and Aoshi have met previously? The more theories posted the faster i'll update the next chapter. Hehe.


	5. Ch 4

**Summary:**Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

Chapter 4

"YAY!!" Kaoru danced with joy as I told her what happened last night.

"Why are you so happy?" I was annoyed. She have to help me remember what happened between me and him. Cause I don't really remember anything at all.

"Cause I'm right. You've met him before this. Probably you spilled some soup on him and you gave him that handkerchief to wipe it off. You just don't remember it," Kaoru nodded in agreement with her own statement.

"You love this I-spill-something-on-him theory so much.". Her theory is ridiculous anyway. I could remember something like that.

"Cause I'm probably right. You are one cheerful girl, but hey, you're clumsy like hell"

"Yea, yea, I'm a klutz." I rolled my eyes at her. I'm just a klutz around him. Probably he made me too nervous with his gaze.

"Probably that's why he's attracted to you. You have amazing chemistry with our chemistry teacher." Kaoru grinned at her own words.

"No way, he doesn't even look my way now," I denied, but I couldn't deny the blossoming happiness in my heart. Even though it may not be true, I'm happy to hear it from her.

"Cause you spurned him off," I gaped. Since when did I do something like that?

I was about to open my mouth to answer when I feel something's tugging at my right earlobe. I saw Kaoru straightened herself up and nodded to the person that held my ear.

"Good evening, Okina" she said politely.

"Oh, good evening to you too Kaoru. Oh please continue eating, it's all on the house tonight," my grandfather answered.

"Jiiya!! Let go!!" I cried, struggling to get my ears back from his grip in one piece.

"You, young lady, have forgotten to hand in the orders from table 10," he stared at me, disapprovingly.

I clasped my hands in shock. I looks at the piece of paper I've been playing around when I'm talking to Kaoru in despair. I did forget to hand in the order. My grandfather handed me a tray full of drinks and gestured me to table number 10.

"They have been asking for their food, and they are getting rowdy . Now go to them and hand them their complimentary drink, and apologize,"

Mental head slap. I've been busy talking to Kaoru until I forgotten to hand in the orders. How absent minded I've been. And it's all because of Aoshi sensei. Talking about him made me this way!

I walked towards the group of 4 guys at table 10 with the most friendly and apologetic face expression I could form with my facial muscles. I handed them the drink and apologized to them, honestly sorry to forget to hand over their orders.

As I bowed to them, and turned to leave table 10 when suddenly I felt a light touch on my butt. I immediately turned around and saw that one of the guys from table 10 grinning lewdly while palming my butt through the Aoiya uniform . I was about to give him my special style angry demon bird kick when someone grabbed the pervert's hand and pulled it away from me.

"Hey, what are you doing," that pervert said angrily, shouting and standing up, rolling his sleeves up., staring at the person who saved me.

"I can't let anyone touch my girlfriend," my savior said.

And I gaped.

"Yahiko?!?" I cried.

That guy is my ex boyfriend. Of course when I heard him at the hotel with that college girl I just snapped and when off to somewhere to wallow in my sorrow on my own. I never did contact him after that, and when he called, I rejected his call. When he messages me, I just deleted it. I'm too depressed to have any more contact with him.

So that makes us officially still a couple. Because I haven't told him I want to break up with him.

He turned and looked at me, squarely in the eye.

"Hey, why have you been ignoring me all this time?"

"I've been busy," I said with a huff.

"I've missed you," he said, with his puppy dog eyes pleading with me, but I shook my head, trying to shake my feeling for him off me. After all, he did cheated on me.

"I don't think so," I begin walking away from him.

"Don't you guys ignore me!" the pervert's face purpled and he lunged towards us with the intention to hit my ex with his fist. How utterly foolish of him. My ex is a strong guy, even though he looked a little bit scrawny to other. With reflexes honed in his kendo classes he avoid the pervert effortlessly and he landed splat on the floor, immediately unconscious. We ignored him as we continued with our conversation.

"Have I done anything wrong? Tell me, and I can fix it,"

"We are over! I'm breaking up with you!" I said, running away from him, cause I don't think I can hold the sadness I feel inside anymore. I can't look at his face anymore. If I did it all the memories when I saw him that night played on my mind and I feel so depressed I could just die on the spot. I run out of Aoiya and stopped when I reach the main streets, when I feel that he has stopped following me.

"Wait, Misao, what's wrong?" I heard his voice behind me, without any warning, and it made me yelp out loud in shock. Where did he come from? He wasn't there when I checked a second ago.

"Go away Yahiko. Go and find some other high school's girl to play with, I had enough you,"

"I don't understand…" he looked confused. Maybe I have to refresh his memories.

"I knew about you and HER! I saw the two of you going into that hotel that night!" I said. He was taken aback for a while, but he composed himself and tried to reason with me.

"Misao, that, my cousin, she came here and she wanted to see me because it's been a long time since she's seen me,"

"Don't lie to me Yahiko. How dare you said that lie with such a straight face. I've read your messages. She's not your cousin. You're not related with her. I listened at the door. I heard moaning sounds, and I'm pretty sure it's not coming from the television, "

He pondered on this for a while. And he took a deep breath and sighed out loud. He slumped in defeat.

"I'm sorry that you have to know it like that. I wish I could break that easily with you."

I'm afraid of the answers but I have to ask the questions so it would give me some closure. "Why did you do it? Did you ever think of me? Did you ever loved me?"

He smiled softly. "I loved you Misao. I loved the way you look, all the tomboyish outfit you love to wear. I loved the way you were always cheerful, and the way it rubbed off me, cheering me up too. I loved the time we spent together, and I'll treasure the memories we had. But that the extend of my feeling to you.. Our relationship isn't going anywhere, we have stuck in a rut for so long. "

"It's going nowhere? I gave my all to make this relationship work. I gave my heart, and soul !And you threw this away just like that. Is it because I didn't let you take it to another level? Is it because I refused to sleep with you?"

I guess I strike the right chords. The real reason for all this. He just kept quiet, and avoids my gaze.

Silence filled the air, until it became unbearable. "I guess it's the end." I said finally.

"It's the end," he agreed.

And with that, we went on our separate ways. I feel that with this, he left me with a gaping hole in my heart. But the good thing is, finally, I had closure. Now, I'll try to get over him.

I saw an open convenience store and I tried hard to suppress my urge to go in and buy another tin of tiger beer. I still feel depressed. And sad. I need to let all the feelings I hold inside out.

I found my legs taking to towards the park. This time, I looked carefully, and I noticed that this time it's truly empty of any living creatures. I'm all alone in the park. I walked pass the bench where I have the misfortune to embarrass myself in front of my teacher and sighed. I walked towards an empty swing on the playground and I sat there, head hung low, and let my tears flow.

I lost track of time, and I was brought back into reality when I feel droplets of cool water landed on my head. I looked ahead to see rain are starting to fall, and I smiled, because I felt that the earth is weeping with me. I wasn't alone. I help my right palm in front of me, palm upturned, trying to catch a few droplets on my hand.

Suddenly, it hit me. I don't feel the rain drumming on my body anymore. But I could see the rain pouring down. It feels like I'm holding an umbrella, shielding me against the rain.

I looked behind me, and it nearly shocked me out of my skin to see the dark figure standing behind me. From the little light the streetlamp gave I could faintly trace the outline of that figure, and my heart jumped as everything clicked together.

It's Aoshi, and he's hovering over me, totally shielding me against the pouring rain. He opened the trench coat he's wearing, and I was instantly enveloped into his body heat as he wrapped me with his coat, sheltering me from the cold rain .

My immediate response is to turn to face him and leaned towards him, my cheek against his chest, eyes closed as I him be my pillar of strength.

"I'm taking you home"he said, tugging me.

I shook my head violently and begin wailing uncontrollably on his chest. He stiffened a little, and tried to softly disengage me, but I held on tight, my arms circling his waist as I sobbed my heart out. He sighed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and I could feel his hand ruffling my hair softly, trying to comfort me.

I begin telling me about him, my first serious boyfriend. How we've met. How we've been together for almost a year now. And how did he cheat on me because I couldn't give him what he wants.

"My boyfriend is so stupid! I'm just a kid, I'm not ready to go to that level. Just because he's a senior college guy, experienced and all, it doesn't mean I'm like him. I'm afraid. He should understand. He should have waited for me. I guess it's a few years he don't have. Why wait for me when he could have any other girl easily. I know I'm not very pretty-" I stopped as he suddenly took my jaw and lifted me to look right up at him. He orbs are fixed on mine, and I could feel his vision caressing my face. He smiled faintly.

"You are very beautiful, Misao. And may it be months, or years, you are worth it. You are worth the wait"

My face flushed instantly. He looked away and he held my hand, and pried it from his waist. And he begin walking in the rain, with me trailing behind him, walking hands in hand as he leads me back home.

In my heart, now I knew the truth. I knew that I have fallen hard for him. I like him so much. But what can I do about it? He's my teacher! I just couldn't tell him how I feels.

When we reached the Aoiya, I could see my grandfather pacing restlessly in from of the entrance, tugging at his beard and muttering something under his breath. When he saw me he immediately run towards me with an umbrella in his hands.

"Misao, where have you been? Everyone's worried!" he said, fussing over me. He finally noticed Aoshi sensei who's standing inconspicuously at the streets. I turned away to wave at him goodbye, but I could see he's swiftly turning his back against us and disappearing into the shadows.

I sighed and turned to talk to my grandfather. I stopped when I saw the look on his eyes.

"Jiiya?"

"Is that Aoshi?" my grandfather said softly.

"Yes, you know him?"

"Yes Misao. Don't you recognize him girl?"

"No?"

"He's your step brother ,"

The lightning flashes, making the whole night sky seemed like day for a second, illuminating the shocked and traumatized expression engraved on my face.

"NOOOO….!!" the echoes of my screams ripples throughout the entire neighborhood.

To be continued.

Thanks for all your support, and I have to say, I loved reading all the different theories. And most of them are correct. I guess my story is predictable after all. Hehe. Anyway thanks for the reviews!!

fresco  
thanks!! I just hoped my chapters are up to your expectation.

Kenta Divina  
I don't think Misao will sue Aoshi anytime soon. Hehe

mandella-sama

Glad you liked it!

petite.ina  
I'll try my best to update it ASAP!!

chawan  
you work in a chemistry lab? Wow! I'm basing my story on the hot lecturer I have, and he teaches physics :P. I hope my story is chemistrically correct, although they are grammatically incorrect.

adrichan  
I'm afraid to say that you guessed correctly, they are related. :P nice theory

dragondemoness91  
haha, don't stress yourself over this.

s-makn

That theory's cute in the beginning, but too many tragedies.:P

HopefulWithWings  
Aoshi is old, way older, 10 years older than Misao.

christina

Urm, your theory is more or less 50 percent correct. :P

gwen

I know I'm a bit weak in the grammar area, I'm so sorry!!I'll try my best to find the mistakes and correct

anime.fushigi

I liked your theory, it's soo cute!! Haha

Ali-chan et Vani-chan

Thanks!!


	6. Ch 5

**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

p.s: Nothing much in this chapter, but nevertheless, read and review:P Enjoy.

**Chapter 5**

I am Misao Makimachi, I have been 17 years old for 5 whole months, and for the first time in my entire lifetime, I am told that I have a brother just now. A half brother, to be correct. And the great thing is, I have totally fallen head over heels with him. It's not hard to do so, after all, he is an attractive adult male that exudes a lot of pheromones. Any healthy young women would fall for him, especially a hormonally imbalanced 17 years old girl like me. Not only he is my half brother, he is actually my chemistry teacher. Oh, the horror! What a coincidence, my life should be mad into a prime time soap drama!

"He's your step brother ," my grandfather said.

"NOOOO….!!" the echoes of my screams ripples throughout the entire neighborhood.

My grandfather was taken aback by my response. Very taken aback. He took three long step backwards from and stared at me.

"Jiiya, are you kidding? Cause it's not funny," I said, exasperated, wringing my hands with anxiety.

"You don't remember the way you were always sticking to him like a magnet would stick to the fridge? You guys were so close back then," he stopped, and taking in the wide eyed look from me, he sighed .

"Maybe we should get out of the rain first, and I'll explain it to you," and jiiya pulled me inside the Aoiya. He grabbed a towel from somewhere, I hadn't noticed where, and wrapped around me.

As he sat me down on the chair and sat down a mug of hot beverage, he sat at the opposite of me, and looked at me as I took a sip of the hot chocolate.

And he begin telling me the story.

There's a reason why I've been raised by my grandfather. He have told me before that my parents were killed in an car accident, and I was lucky because I escaped from that car crash with my life. Since then I was under the care of my grandfather. I never asked any questions, and I never did because I loved grandfather so much and I feared if I asked too much about my parents it would hurt him.

"Actually, your biological father died when you were just a baby. He had suffered from cancer such a long time, but still it came as a shock for us. He was a good man, and he loved you and your mother so much. Your mother was content being a single mother for several years, until a man entered her life. He was a regular customer here, coming here once a week, and he has a teenage son with him. Being single parents, they clicked, and thus they fall in love. It wasn't long before he proposed, and your mother agreed. You were just 5 years old when she remarried." he paused.

I was five back then. I'm too young too remember. That must be it. I nodded for him to continue. He resumed.

"When you know you have an older brother, you were ecstatic. You revered him. Where ever he would go, you would trail along behind him, looking up to him with your huge sparkling eyes. You adored him so much. I think at first, he was annoyed by you. After a while, he got used to it. I think he finally started to adore you too." he smiled, as he reminiscence the good old days. I smiled. Even back then, I liked him so much. Funny.

And I knew what's coming now. "And then the accident happened,"

"Yes, the accident. It happened when the four of you were on the way back from a trip at the theme park. The car skidded and collided with a huge tree. Both your step father and your mother died. You suffered some head injury, and you were in a coma for a short period of time" jiiya said carefully. I raised an eyebrow. Questioning.

That's a shock. "I was comatose? How did the accident happened? What about Aoshi?" I asked. Jiiya looked reluctant to continue, but as I pleaded with him with my eyes, he sighed and answered my question.

"He was driving the car," jiiya said finally.

"He's the driver?" I exclaimed, shocked. How old was he back then? He was old enough to have a driving license? The age difference between us is large after all.

"He just got his license for a couple of months, but everyone trusted him. But then he lost control of the car, and hit a tree. He suffered major cuts from the broken glass. That's all. He's lucky. Physically, he had the least injury. But he suffered from guilt. He is the cause of the accident, and yet, he was left unscathed. He blamed himself, hated himself for it."

I took a sip of the hot drink and stared at the cup, thinking hard. It must be hard on him. The guilty feeling would be overwhelming. I could understand. Is that the reason why he left us? Is it? Jiiya continued his story.

"You were in coma for three whole days, and during that time, he never left your side. He prayed and prayed for your safety, and held your hand, as if by holding your hand, he could transfer his life to you. When you woke up on the third day, he rejoiced. The next day, he packed his belongings and left our lives forever. Until tonight. I wonder why left back then. And I wonder what made him came back," jiiya ends the story. We sat quietly, contemplating the story for a few minutes, before I opened my mouth.

"He's teaching at my school, jiiya. In fact, he's teaching my class" I said quietly. Jiiya raised an eyebrow, quizzical.

"Oh? He's a teacher now. Interesting. It's been 10 years now, I want to meet him. Could you please invite him to come here tomorrow night. We should have a reunion dinner together. Could you please tell him about it tomorrow at school?" Jiiya took my hands and grasped them firmly, looking straight in my eyes, asking me to do this important thing, and I just could not say no, and I nodded in agreement.

My grandfather has left me with such a daunting task, and I have no idea how to do it because suddenly my views towards him change. I feel he is not only my teacher, but a brother as well. A brother I haven't seen for 10 years. I feel even more awkward facing him today.

I had fallen for him even though he is my teacher, plus he is about a decade older than me. Back then those facts doesn't even faze me a bit. So what if he's a teacher? It's just his occupation, dedicating himself to educating young minds like me. There's nothing wrong with liking a teacher. And about him being ten years older than me, I always thought that age are nothing but numbers, and it doesn't really measure what's inside the person.

But now what? He's my family. He's the only close relative I have aside from Jiiya. The feelings I have for him are wrong. It's…incest!!

That particular word boomed inside my head, rising several octaves and repeating itself several times before it died. I feel sick to my stomach.

If I told him how I feel. If I told him I liked him, not as brothers or sisters, but as a man and a woman, how would he react?

He would probably broke his poker face and run away from me, screaming with horror.

I have no idea how to deal with this guilt I feel from liking him. And I have no idea how will this end.

Last night when everyone's asleep I crept out of my room in Aoiya and went to the Aoiya library where all the dusty books we own are stored in. Aside from books Grandfather also stored photo albums here. Apparently grandfather stored dust bunnies here too. I scrambled around scrounging for long lost photo albums in the dark. Finally after I was completely cowered by spider webs and my nose are clogged with dust, I found it.

Jiiya was right. There was an old photo of a wedding. The wedding of my mother and Aoshi's father. Inside the photo the four of us were grinning madly at the photographer. In one photo, mom looked gorgeous in the white wedding gown, and I sat on her lap, my arms around her nape, I'm kissing her cheek. On the other side stood Aoshi beside his father, both sitting stiffly with solemn faces but there's a twinkle on their eyes, shining with inner happiness.

I turned the other page, and there was one picture of him, looking super annoyed by something clinging around his neck. That annoying clingy thingy is me. He was trying to push me off, and I was trying to stick on him. I adored him, I could see from the shiny eyes that gazed upon him worshiping his every move. Even back then I like him a lot.

Another picture is where the both of us cycling, he's in front, looking emotionless as always, and trying to put a distance between me who's cycling furiously to catch him.

In another picture I have fallen asleep in his arms and he was taking me to my bed. My face laid on his shoulders, my mouth open wide and he was looking at me, an amused expression on his face.

We used to be so happy together.

Even back then he always puts this face in front of people, this hardened mask of ice, hiding himself behind it. When will the mask melt? When will he drop the poker face he has and let other people know the real him, hidden inside?

I guess I'll never know.

Since today there's no chemistry, I won't be able to see him unless I go up to his office and knock on his front door. I gathered all my strength and when the bell rings and it's time for lunch, I lurched up unsteadily as I walked towards his office.

"Hey, where're you going? You don't look good," Kaoru told me, as I was just about to walk out of the classroom.

I probably don't look too good, I feel slightly light headed and dizzy with the thought of meeting him, and I could feel the blood slowly draining from my body as if a vampire's sucking on me now. My lips are probably bloodless and my face's as pale as the whiteboard in front of the classroom.

"I need to do something important, see you at the cafeteria," I waved unsteadily at Kaoru. She narrowed her eyes, suddenly suspicious of me. I grinned at her, trying to drown her suspicions, but instead it ignites her suspicion even more than before.

As I walked slowly towards the administration building where his room is located I could feel like I'm submerged into an ethereal landscape, the lights shining down on me became so unbearable and made everything in my world glowing , I have to shield my eyes for a while. It was then when I bumped into something solid and I lost my balance and fell, sprawled awkwardly on the floor, all the breath knocked out off me.

"You really are so accident prone," I heard that familiar drawl, and looked up to say something in response to him. He is standing right in front of me. My step brother. My sensei. The one I have a crush on. I tried to open my mouth. To say something to him. But I couldn't move, I felt that all my strength have left my body.

"Are you hurt?" he knelt down beside me and took a good look at me. I felt a cool touch on my forehead.

He slipped his hands under my knees and back and scooped me up in his arms effortlessly. He held me close and kept his right palm on my forehead.

"You're burning up. I'm taking you to the nurse," and as I breathe in the scent of him and revel in the warmth of his arms, I feel myself slipping in the realm of unconsciousness.

**To be continued…**

And thanks for those who dropped a line:

R.Kay  
thanks!

EcstasyOfSesshoumaru  
I'll continue.. Okay okay…hehe

Hieigirl17  
Thanks for being the only one who thinks that Yahiko scene as shocking. Thanks! Yeah. Even I think the Yahiko thing is shocking.

Fresco  
It's all thanks to Aoshi. Only he can gave you the warm fuzzy feeling, hehe. Sorry for the typo's, I'll try to fix it, eventually. :P

Shika-kun'sKeba771  
I myself don't know where this is going, I've making it all up week after week. Hehe. Just pray that I don't do something evil to them in the next chapter.

dragondemoness91  
sorry to tell you, but I don't choose the pen name eevilfaerie just for fun, it's because I'm evil! Hehe. But seriously not all of my chapters ends with a cliffhanger. I think.

christina  
I've yet seen the devil beside you drama. But I don't think this story's going to go that way. But I've seen Gokusen. Kyaaa for Shin Sawada:P

petite.ina  
wow! Heh

icyblossom3  
don't worry, I'll update as early as I can :P

prettyshinomori  
really, yes, they are related. Will they be together? Even I don't know yet.

gwen  
I never had a beta tester, hehe, sorry.


	7. Ch 6

**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**PS: **Sorry for the late update, been busy with exams this month. J

**Chapter 6**

The first thing that I felt as slowly regain some consciousness is the warmth emanating from my right hand. I turned to look at my left and there was him, sitting on a stool, clutching my hands, heads down, eyes closed, lost in his own world.

My heart gave a loud thump.

Immediately I tried to get my hands away from him in dismay. He opened his eyes and stared as I pulled my hands away. At first he resisted my struggles, and tightened his clasp drastically, but after a while he let go and I got my hands back with a start.

"I seemed to repulse you with my touch," he concluded, eyes empty and cold, identifying my actions as a rejection. He immediately stood up and turned his back away from me, and started to walked away. I grasped at him, only to catch his right hand, and I pulled.

How can I explain it to him? That I couldn't accept his touch because I fear the feeling I have for him would blossom? How his touch leaves me tingling ?

No way.

"No, sorry, I was…disoriented"I mumbled. He turned sideways to gaze upon my sleeping form.

"I was leaving anyway, get some rest." he disengaged my grip gently and waved as he begin to walk away.

Oh no, don't go! I have to say something!

"I need to say something to you. Please sit down," I pleaded. He admitted defeat by turning back and sitting on the stool beside my bed.

"Jiiya told me everything," I said.

"What exactly he said about me?"he queried.

"That you were my step brother, and you left us ten years ago after the accident," I said carefully. Aoshi was lost in his own thoughts.

"When he caught the glimpse of me, I knew this charade would be over," he finally spoke after several seconds of silence. Then he fell silent.

"What?" I urged him to continue. He took a deep breath and talked.

"When I was transferred to this town, I knew that I couldn't run and hide from the past anymore. I could have turned down the offer, but something deep inside me told me to accept the transfer. The first day in this town, I went to all the places that hold a place in my memories. My school. Aoiya. The park…" He looked to me and paused.

"That day at the park…"I said.

"Yes, when you were drowning your sorrow we met again for the first time after a decade. At first, I weren't too sure about you. I can't recognize you cause you've grown. You're not the little minx I remembered. You blossomed into a fine young girl," He gave me a small grin.

I blushed. And I tried as hard as I can to not let my face red face visible to his sight, and I crinkled my nose because he kept mentioning that embarrassing moment.

Its uncanny. I hate how easily he made me blush, by the simple words he say. How can someone like him have so much effect to my bodily functions like this?

"At the class we meet again. This time I am certain you were that little hellion, that stuck to my back like a glue, stalking me with those big eyes back in those times. But to my disappointment, she has forgotten all about me, "his eyes looked accusing, and disappointed at the same time.

"I was like, what, seven years old at that time. I was too young to remember…" It's true, my memories when I was young are not clear.

"Or you were trying to erase the man who killed your parents from your mind," he stated casually, but I could feel his dread emanating from his physique.

"You didn't kill them. It was an accident,"

"An accident I caused,"

"No one blamed you."

"I blamed myself. I killed my parents. And I nearly killed you too. Seeing you lying on the bed like this, feels like déjà vu to me. And it's tearing my heart apart, remembering the past,"

"You shouldn't have left us, we should have stayed together, facing this obstacle together as one united family"

"No-"

"Things would have been different if you stayed," I said. Yes, things would be different. After all, I will grow knowing him as my brother, and I will not develop this feeling I have inside for him. Things would be easier, very much easier.

"I have to. "he said simply,and turned away from my gaze. What does he mean by that?

"Why did you left us? Why?"

He kept quiet. And he kept his gaze on the floor, trying not to look at me.

I gritted my lower lips and tried not to scream in frustration. It's difficult having a conversation with a man like him. A quiet and mysterious man, a man with little to say.

"It's best that I stay away so that I couldn't cause you hurt anymore."

"So are you saying that you left because you would hurt me? It's just an accident! It's not your fault. You came back, and look, everything's fine now. I'm not been harmed. It's been 10 years now, don't you think that's long enough? "

He took my word silently.

I continued, "Jiiya wants to meet you. Tonight, at 8, at Aoiya. Family reunion dinner. Please be there, onii-san. Please? "I pleaded, gripping both of his hands in a firm grip, staring deep in his eyes, hoping that he would say yes. I could see him mulling over the invitation in his head, and after a while, he sighed.

He nodded.

I smiled.

After a while he left me there and I begin banging my head with the pillow. I certainly isn't happy with where's this is going. But the worst thing is, I said it with my own tongue, I called him onii-san. I've said it. Now it's official. I've acknowledged him as my brother, and that's it.

Kaoru came in and caught me thumping my head liked crazy, and she stared open mouthed at me.

"I heard that Mr Shinomori's the one who found you unconscious and took you here. I thought you would be happy. I don't expect you to torture yourself,"

"Help me Kaoru, I liked him so much! I can't help myself! "I moaned. She rolled her eyes.

"So what's the problem now?" she demanded, taking the place where he sat just now and took a good long look at me.

"It's a long story," I said wearily.

"I have time. And I really hate the class after this, so I would love to have a reason not to go. Tell me, you know it'll be just between us two. Our secret," Kaoru put he index finger on her lip and made a shushing sound. And winked at me. I grinned.

And I begin the story. Kaoru listened intently, nodding and thinking hard. When I finished, she smiled.

"So you are saying that he is related to you. And that's why you cannot like him. Is that it?"

"Kind off…"I trailed off when I saw the look on Kaoru's face.

"Listen to me. You've said it yourself. And if I understand correctly, he is only your step brother. He is not your half brother. You guys have different set of parents. You guys are related, yeah, but not blood related, not biologically related. Technically, you guys are just are legal to be married to each other. It's not incest, if that's what you're afraid off."

"It's not wrong?"

It lightened my heart a bit. I've been such a loser not to think of that. She is right. He is not blood related. He is only my step brother, not my half brother. I've such a fool to mix the both of them up. But there are still issues. A lot of issues. What would jiiya react if I told him that I liked Aoshi? He would probably be disgusted, because he really sees us as real siblings. Would he approve of our relationship? It would probably drive us apart.

"Yeah, Misao, stop torturing yourself .Enough. " Kaoru interjected, after seeing me thinking hard.

"I'm so confused with all of this. It's the first time I feel I like someone so much that he fills my every waking hours and every night in my dreams, he's always there. "

"It's really all up to you. You have several choices. You can either confess you feelings to him and wait for his reply. Or you can just find some other guy to fall in love with, and forget all about him,"

"The easy way or the hard way,"

"Just follow your heart,"Kaoru said softly.

I just nodded in agreement. But it's easier said than done.

That night, I prepared myself for the meeting. The reunion dinner. Jiiya is looking solemn, and he's being unnaturally quiet for the last couple of minutes. Aoshi is several minutes late. From his teaching habit, he was never late. He was always punctual coming to the class, and he usually would be ready 5 minutes earlier, waiting patiently for all his students to come before starting his class. He was never late, and his lateness for this meeting is unnatural too.

Jiiya let out a loud sigh. I raised an eyebrow. Maybe I should left him alone. I walked out of the door and decided to go and wait for Aoshi in from of the Aoiya gate.

"Misao, "I heard him calling for me. He's leaning on the tree right to the streets, smoking.

He's here.

I exhaled loudly in relief. Thought he stood us up.

**To be continued…**

Thanks to reviewers out there, lots of love!!:

**tenebra-chan xD**  
Aoshi is always amazing. Hehe

**Nancy**  
As soon as I can!

**darkrini**  
Love sucks. But I'm a romantic. :P

**Hieigirl17**  
Problems can always be solved. Nothing to worry about. Haha

**Fresco**  
Whoa glad you loved this chapter. And thanks for the compliment. Hehe, makes me blush.

**R.Kay**  
Nope, don't think so. Haha.

**Ipanema**  
Misao's the one mixing them both up. Hehe. I'll fix it immediately. I can be rather absent minded when editing my stories.

**petite.ina**  
ASAP

**dragondemoness91**  
Yes, another cliffhanger, just for you. Hehe. Just kidding.


	8. Ch 7

-1**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Chapter 7**

Aoshi's here. Good. If he hasn't showed up I'll kill him the next time we met at school. He's looking great, in his casual blue denims and black polo tee. Different from his usual attire. He's leaning against a tree. The trench coat he's always wearing is haphazardly draped on one of the lower branches of the tree. He's looking sullen, and smoking like there's no tomorrow, smoke is coming out of him like he's a freaking chimney.

That got a frown out of me. I didn't know that he's a heavy smoker. But then again, I don't know much about him to start with.

"What are you doing here; Jiiya's waiting for you inside." I said as I stood next to him, eyeing him carefully.

"I need something to calm me down," he said after a while.

Calm himself down? He's nervous about meeting Jiiya? I looked at him, and I could see by the subtle tightness at his jaw and the small tapping of his right leg he is a bit nervous.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," I said, and leaned on the tree trunk just next to him, looking up to look at the midnight sky. A full moon and thousand of stars are scattered on the sky. Beautiful night. Being with him, just the two of us, it made me feel ecstatic. I could be like this forever and I could not ask for more.

"There's a lot of things to be afraid of, and Jiiya's one of them," he said quietly. I giggled automatically, and clamped my hands on my lips to stop myself. I never knew he's afraid of Jiiya. He looks all tough but he's intimidated by Jiiya. Funny thing.

He took the cigarette from his lips and gives a small tug on it, letting the ashes fall down on the ground. Looking at that little motion I found my eyes gravitate at a small scar on his hands. A slash right in the middle of the back of his hands. I was about to ask where did he get it, but I stopped myself. I'm afraid it's a scar from the accident that happened back then.

He noticed my scrutiny and smiled his usual small subtle smile.

"I guess you have forgotten how I got this beautiful mark on my hands," he told me.

"Eh?" That surprised me.

"It happened here, under this very tree," he pointed upwards.

I looked up. For as long as I can remember, this huge tree has always been here. It's about three story's high, one story's taller than Aoiya. If you want to go on a midnight rendezvous without Jiiya's knowledge, you can always use this tree to climb down. Works like an emergency stairway for Aoiya inhabitants. I always used it to sneak out while I was dating Yahiko back then.

"Did you fall from this tree?" I asked, very curious.

"Yeah, thanks to you,"

"Me?"

"It was a windy day, and I caught you trying to climb this tree, trying to place back a baby bird back into it's nest. I couldn't let you do that, it's too dangerous, so I offered myself to help. After I have successfully placed back the bird into the nest a gust of wind blow me off balanced and I fell to the ground. I guessed some twig scratched my hand when I was falling down, resulting in this," he explained, rubbing the scar softly.

"I landed right about here," he pointed to a spot near his feet.

Ouch. I guess the nest is not very high up if he survived the fall. How come I've forgotten all about it? All these memories of us. Memories that he kept in his mind after all this time.

"Sorry," I murmured .He shrugged.

"You have said enough sorry's back then. You bandaged my hands with your favorite handkerchief, and run screaming for Jiiya's help."

"I did?" I could just picture the scene right in my head. Him lying helpless on the ground, and I'll be screaming on top of my lungs and running faster than the speed of light for help.

"I haven't returned that handkerchief back. I used to have it in my possession, but I've lost it. I'll buy you a new one later," he said.

The handkerchief? It's safe to assume it's the one that he left that night during our first encounter. Oh, he doesn't realize that it's in my possession now. I hid it under my pillow, like a precious talisman.

"Oh no, you don't have to." I said.

"Oh,"he said, looking a tad bit disappointed.

"Anyways, are you ready to come inside? It's not best to keep him waiting," I said, changing the subject. He nodded and took his coat off the branches. I started to move, but suddenly I felt a light touch on my arms. I looked down to see him holding my right arm in a light grip. I raised my gaze up and tilted my head, quizzically searching for answers on his unreadable face. He looked straight ahead with a determined look in his eyes.

"Let's go," He said, tugging my arms lightly and he begin leading the way towards the entrance. My feet's moving on it's own accords, following his steps automatically, mechanically. My thought are buzzing, buzzing with questions, my stomach's churning and my eyes boring on him, trying to understand, trying to translate his actions into what's he's thinking, because I can't read his eyes at all.

Why? Why did he take my hands in his? Why did he do it? Is it possible? My heart thumped wildly. Is it even possible for me to dream that it's true? Is there any chance that he liked me too?

"Hey, come on, how on earth a man like him would like a girl like me? And don't forget, he probably thought of you as his little sister anyways. He would never have any romantic interest in you, not in a trillion years, girl," demons in my head are whispering, poisoning my thoughts. I shook my head violently to silence their chatter.

Kaoru's words came to me. The easy way or the hard way. I can hold on to this feeling I have for him, and pursue it, or I'll just give it up to pursue another romantic interest to take him off my mind.

"Yes, that's it. There are thousands of other hot men aside from him. Others that is not so complicated. Why complicate things? People said that blood is thicker that water, and even though you guys are not blood related, you two are considered to be family. Why ruin the beautiful relationship? Don't be greedy. Why wish for more?" the demons whispered in my head.

Why? Good question.

Because I like him. A lot. There's no particular reason why, there's no good explanation for it, it just happened without my approval, in a blink of an eye he captured my heart. When I like him, I developed this uncontrollable desire to be near him.

Is that love?

"There you are." Jiiya's loud voice reverberates throughout the dining hall and shook me out of my reverie. I wiggled my arms out of his grip immediately, and he threw a weird look at me before greeting Jiiya. He held out his hands in front of Jiiya, and Jiiya gripped it tightly before enveloping him into a tight bear hug. That shook Aoshi for a second but he composed himself before returning the hug with an affectionate pat on Jiiya's back.

All of us are seated around the low table with the charcoal grill in the middle of the table, sitting on the cushions, with Jiiya and Aoshi chattering away. Well, to be exact, Jiiya's the one who's doing most of the chattering, while Aoshi is as quiet as usual, answering only when Jiiya prodded him. My mind drifted away, and I ate mechanically, not paying attention at all to what's I've been shoving inside my mouth.

The sudden burst of greasy fume as Jiiya laid down a hefty amount of black pepper marinated beef on the grill, making the grill crackle, burst through my bubble and shove me back into the real world. I shook my head to clear me out of my reverie and started to listen to their conversation.

"So, where are you staying now?" Jiiya asked, turning over a piece of corn on the cob, letting the fire burn the corn.

"Oh, I'm staying with a friend of mine, the house just 5 minute's away from the school" Aoshi answered casually. He took a sip of the green tea from his cup.

"Oh, just the both of you living inside that house?"

"Yes,"

"What's his name? Your housemate I mean. " Jiiya asked, curiosity lit his face.

"Erm, my house mate is not a he,"

"Eh?"

"My house mate is a she," Aoshi said, and casually stuffed a grilled fish fillet into his mouth.

That made Jiiya stopped eating and both me and Jiiya choked on our grilled chicken at the same time. Synchronized choking. Aoshi immediately slapped both of our backs with both of his hands and I managed to dislodge the meat from my throat and it landed splat on the table. I wiped it off, embarrassed.

He's living with women? He got a girlfriend? And they are living together? No way. I'm getting dizzy with the thought.

"So you're living together now?"Jiiya asked carefully, trying to look casual as he gulped down his drink to drown down his shock.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. She's just an old friend. I'm not dating anyone right now. I just got back into town and she kindly offered a room for me. I accepted it because it's very near to where I'm teaching right now."

"Oh, is that so," Jiiya exclaimed, rubbing his moustache in deep thought as his head processed the information.

However, I wasn't that happy to know that particular fact. Who is Aoshi's housemate? Old friends? Who is she?

I wasn't going to be the one who will ask that particular question, so I stared at Jiiya, trying to mentally project my desire to ask that particular question to him, so he would be the one who asked Aoshi about it instead of myself.

Jiiya's not that perceptive, and he continued chatting away with Aoshi, changing the topic to Aoshi's career instead. I grind my teeth in frustration and I violently took a grilled chicken piece and shoved it into my mouth, chewing it wildly.

"Anyway, how's Misao's grade?" Jiiya asked eagerly. I choked on that piece of fish and glared at Jiiya. What with that question? Argh! I screamed, mentally.

"Misao's an average student, looking through the records. But she seems a little bit weak in calculus and also chemistry." Aoshi answered mechanically.

Oh great, please spill all my academic records that I've been trying so hard to conceal from Jiiya. I squirmed nervously.

"Oh, really. And Chemistry is your subject isn't it. Perhaps you could give her some private tutoring to improve her grades."Jiiya suggested.

"That's a good idea, since her last test she scored an E,"Aoshi said while turning over a piece of chicken on the grill with his chopsticks.

"An E??!??" Jiiya exclaimed, face red, steam blowing from his ears, moustaches standing up straight.

He turned his head slowly to look at me in the eyes. I cowered under Jiiya's gaze. That's it. Jiiya's going to kill me later. Owh why does Aoshi have to be so honest with Jiiya. It wouldn't be that hard to hide that teeny little fact from Jiiya. I glared at Aoshi. He seemed oblivious to my vicious stares, chewing on his meal calmly. He took some half burnt bulgogi chicken and placed them in his bowl of rice.

"Here, have some," I said, gritting my teeth while smiling so widely, and placed some kimchi in his bowl of rice. He took his chopsticks and ate those calmly. Suddenly he stopped and involuntarily inhaled loudly. Hahaha, I mentally rubbed my hands together and laughed gleefully. Those kimchi's are a specialty of Aoiya's and they are super hot. Hotter that average. Ha, that's for tattling to Jiiya about my grades.

He took his cup and sipped his green tea casually, he looked calm but I could see beads of sweat forming on his forehead. I bet that kimchi burned a hole in his tongue. Even I don't eat those, they are way too hot. He placed down his drink and continued eating. While eating he's throwing daggers with his eyes at me. I did my most innocent facial expression and grinned to him.

He took a piece of beef from the grill and placed it in my bowl. I stared at it suspiciously, and shrugged. Looks okay. I hastily took a bite out of it and nearly choked. That particular meat is well cooked on the visible side, but on the other side it's burnt black. It tasted like charcoal. I feel his eyes on me and I forced a smile to him.

I'll get back to him! Even if it's the last thing I do.

"I have an idea," Jiiya burst out suddenly.

"Eh?" I said, surprised.

"How about you move out from your current residence," Jiiya said, turning to grasp both of Aoshi's hand. He backed away slightly and looked at Jiiya suspiciously.

"Move out?" Aoshi echoed Jiiya's words.

"Yes, and move in with us. Here, at Aoiya. "Jiiya nodded.

"Eh?" I burst out loud. Oh no, another of Jiiya's crazy plan. No way Aoshi would agree, after all he already got place to stay. Jiiya continued.

"You can have your old bedroom, we cleaned it every now and then, but we haven't moved your stuff out. I guess that I hoped that you'll return home one day-"

"Ok," Aoshi replied simply.

"What?? Wa…wait!" I spluttered.

How come he said yes that easily? Without thinking it over? Why! I stared at both of them, but they ignored me. Insane, both of them are out of their mind!!

To be continued…

To be continued…

And thanks to…

Adelaide MacGregor

Thanks. Working to improve my grammar right away.

Fresco

Whoot! I'm jumping with you too.

Ai-so

I know. I've been busy with school and exams too. Glad to know you're not disappointed!

dragondemoness91

Updating! Haha

aRi-16-08

Thanks a lot. flutter

Hieigirl17

That's totally not me. I just roll on the floor screaming. Hehe

R.Kay

Never know that some people thinks blaming themselves are cute. :P

s-makn

Yeah Misao, count yourself lucky!


	9. Ch 8

-1**Summary: **Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Chapter 8**

"And that's exactly what happened," I ended the story.

I turned sideways to look at her. Kaoru giggled at the exasperation on my face.

"So no matter how you protest both of them ignored you? "

"Yes, and after that I gave both of them the silent treatment. Just to be ignored again. Jiiya's in heaven cause Aoshi agreed to move back. Aoshi…I don't know what's he's thinking! He just sat there in silence! "

Both of us are sitting side by side on a bench in the school park, under a huge tree, eating our lunch together. Kaoru pondered over the facts. She grinned immediately and begins petting my back affectionately.

"Great, when he's moving in?" she asked.

"That's …that's not the point." I stammered.

"What is?" She fluttered her eyelashes at me, smiling. I sighed.

"I…urm…I don't KNOW!! Don't you feel this is not right?"

"I see nothing's wrong. Maybe you shouldn't think too much about it. Things happen for a reason. Maybe you should rejoice."

"Rejoice?" I grimaced at her choice of words.

"Imagine, every morning. The first thing you see is his face. If you're lucky, you can catch of him fresh out of the showers, wearing nothing but a white terrycloth towel wrapped around his waist, chest glistening with droplets of water…" both of our eyes went glassy when that very delicious vision fills our head. Both of us let an involuntary sigh simultaneously.

"Running his fingers through his wet hair, detangling it, as he looked straight into your eyes, with his electric gaze, you can't take your eyes off him, and you notice the way his thick eyelashes are still wet-"a deep drawl continued.

"Hey Enishi!!" Kaoru screamed as she heard him interrupting our daydreams. He snickered as he sat next to Kaoru and in an instance steals some of her fries. She punched him on the shoulders playfully.

"Anyway, what would you do if a hot guy moves into your house, Enishi?" I asked him as he munched his fries.

"Hot guy? I don't swing that way-" He snorted. I smacked him playfully.

"Okay, a hot girl. You feel an attraction with her, but you …have issues…"

"Haa, if there's chemistry, forget the issues…cause life is short, and once the chance comes, grab it in your hands, cause it may not come again." He said seriously.

Both of us stared at his, unblinkingly. This coming from a guy who was never serious for a second in his life He grinned and walked away from us, not before stealing some of our food. I steepled my fingers together and watched him walk away from us. Maybe he's right. Forget the issues.

"Anyway, he's moving in the day after tomorrow,"

"So soon?"

"Yeah. I don't get it. Why he's in a hurry to move in Aoiya?"

"Aoiya is BIG. There's a lot of space. It used to be an inn after all. But maybe there are reasons."

"I don't care, as long as he stopped living with that female friend of his,"

"Misao, don't you get it. Maybe he's in hurry to move to Aoiya…maybe it's because he can be close to you,"

I laughed out loud. And Kaoru grinned at me. And I begin singing our favorite song together. Very loudly.

Why do birds suddenly appear

Every time you are near?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

Why do stars fall down from the sky

Every time you walk by?

Just like me, they long to be

Close to you.

If people were looking at us right now, they were probably wondering what those two girls are singing happily about.

Time passes slowly today, seconds feels like hours to me, as I looked out of the classroom window, watching the world outside of the class, eyes looking distant and unblinkingly staring at an empty space.

"Time for our favorite class," Kaoru nudge me, hard. Favorite class? More like a torture. I rather am tied up on a stick and being grilled on slow fire. I like the one teaching it. But it doesn't mean I have to like the subject.

I nodded and took off for the chemistry lab session. The last lesson for today. Two hours of boredom and torture before freedom is ours. We took our own sweet time walking to the lab, and when we got there, he already started teaching. I knew I would get into trouble, but I don't care. I was a little bit annoyed with him for all the tattling he did to jiiya about my grades and stuff. He stared at both of us when we walked towards our seat, but when we ignored his glare he resumed teaching as usual.

As he was explaining about the experiment we were doing later on, I shoved my stuffs under the table's open drawer, and suddenly something fell out. It's a letter. Eyebrows knitting in curiosity, I took it and read what's written on the letter.

To Misao.

It's for me. Who on earth would put a letter addressed to me here, in the chemistry laboratory? Could it be him? I threw a look at Aoshi in front of the lab. He's demonstration how to do the experiment we're doing today. Probably. Immediately I opened it and read the letter. Kaoru saw the letter and tried to read it too. She skimmed over the content and let out a gasp at me.

I stared at that piece of paper blankly. It's not from Aoshi. But from someone else. Someone unforeseeable. Very surprising.

"I thought I've warned you about passing notes in my class" The deep voice of Aoshi boomed from behind us, and both I and Kaoru jolted in shock.

Damn him! He was right in front of the lab just a second ago! How did he creep behind us without us realizing it? How on earth he did it?

I swing around on my stool and scowled angrily at him.

"This is not a note. It is a letter addressed to me," I burst stormily. He blinked, letting my hostile words sink in. He crossed his arms, tilted his head slightly and engaged me in an frosty cold stare.

"Notes. Letters. Any form of written communication is not allowed. Now,"

He held out his right hand, pointed to the letter and gestured authoritatively. He wanted it. I knew what's he's going to do when he got his hand on this letter. He's going to read it out loud for the whole class to hear, to embarrass me again like he did before.

That will not happen again. I won't allow it. Not again.

I did what my instincts told me. I stared at him impudently, whilst my hands move to tear the letter. I rapidly tore it into two. And I tore it into four pieces. And I tore it until it became tiny pieces of paper. And I dumped it into the nearest sink. I turned the tap on and watched as the tiny pieces of flowed into the pipes.

The class went buzzing in surprise. I stomped to stand right in front of him, turned my face up, crossing my arms and stared at Aoshi, challenging him. His jaw tightened and I could see a flicker of fire in his eyes. His eyes narrowed dangerously and he leaned slightly towards me.

"See me in the office after class," he whispered coldly and immediately strutted to the front of the lab, immediately ignoring me and proceeding in the lesson. I sat on the stool and kicked the table angrily. Kaoru eyed me and shook her head, probably baffled by my extreme reaction.

"He's picking on me. He did it on purpose!" I whispered between clenched teeth, answering her silent questions.

"But you don't have to destroy that letter," She shrugged.

"I can't let him read it." No way can I let him invade my privacy.

"So what are you going to do about that?" Kaoru pointed to the soggy remains of the letter in the sink.

"I'm going, immediately after school."

"But I though you have to see him in his office,"Kaoru gestured to Aoshi.

"I'm not going to listen to his orders," I said firmly.

During the entire lesson I avoided looking at Aoshi, and he ignored my presence. Immediately after the bell rings, I grabbed my stuffs and stealthily sneaked out of the lab. Aoshi is swarmed by female students, who are under the pretense of not understanding the lesson, who took any chance to chat him up. As usual. This time I'm glad, because it made him preoccupied enough not to notice me slipping away.

I recalled what is written on the letter. And looked at my wristwatch. I have two hours to be ready to meet with the writer of that mysterious letter.

A lot of questions are running amok in my head, until it took me a while to notice the vibrations from my cell phone. Instinctively I took it out and pressed the answering button.

"Hello?"

"You were supposed to be here"

It doesn't take a scientist to know who's on the line. I groaned out loud. It's him. He had my number. Great, now what?

"I'm busy, "

After those two words, I hung up on him. And turned my cell off.

Even from here I could feel the dangerous vibrations from him when he talked on the phone. I'm too busy to start a verbal fight with him. I'll deal with him later. Right now I want to find the answers to the weird letter I got. Even if I have the threat of meeting with an angry, very pissed off Aoshi hung over me.

I stealthily crept back to Aoiya and changed out of my school uniform. I arrived at the meeting point. The person in the letter said that the meeting will take place here. At this very park. The very park where I first met with Aoshi. A dangerous venue. I looked around fearfully, expecting Aoshi to pop out, but he's no where to found. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hello there. I guess you must be Misao," a soft spoken voice stopped me at my tracks.

Squinting my eyes against the dazzling ray of light, I tried to find the source of the voice. Took me several seconds before I could see that person clearly, sitting on the swing, looking at me quizzically. She smiled softly as she felt my gaze upon her. This is her? That person? She doesn't look at all like what I imagined her to be. I assumed her to look like some femme fatale. An older, seductive woman. This subdued, sweet and soft spoken person is totally out of the range of my imagination. She looks just like a high school student.

"Hello, you must be Tsubame." I walked up to her and forced myself to smile, and extended a hand to greet her. She took my hands in a feeble grip.

"I'm glad you came. I thought you've thrown the letter away after reading it…"she said, sighing.

Actually, I did destroy the letter after reading it. I snorted.

"How did you manage to slip that letter at the lab?" The first and foremost question I had in my mind came out from my lips. She smiled.

"The little sister of my old friend is your classmate helped. You know her? Tae and Sae?"

I nodded. The twins in my class.

"What do you want to tell me? About…him?" I said.

I'm not going to say his name out loud. Saying his name still hurts like salt to the open wound. We just broke up, and it's all because of the young girl in front of me. The catalyst of the destruction of my relationship with him. Her message in his cell, her invitation to meet up at the hotel. His so called cousin.

Her lips trembled, and her grip tightened on the swings.

"I love Yahiko-"

"You can have him." I said it coldly and started to stomp away from her. The nerve of her. Trying to rub her victory on my face.

"Listen, I love him, but his heart is not mine. Something in her tone stopped me in my tracks, like I've bumped to a stop at an invisible wall, stilling my steps.

"Please Misao. Hear my story. I need to clear the misunderstanding between the two of you," she said firmly.

To be continued.

And to you guys.

Sorry for being away for too long.

Misao-Cute Weasel

People kept saying that my story is full of surprise,is it true? Maybe I should tone down on the plot twists… And thanks for reading!

Evee-San

I know how you feel. Don't have much time to write and read too…

Christina

Heh,I loved Korean barbeque, I went to a Korean barbeque restaurant every month with my friends. Anyway, Aoshi's Pov will be the last chapter of this story. Only half written it. Aoshi's character's a tough nut to crack.

s-makn

Misao's too much in love with Aoshi to think of revenge. Hehe.

gwen

Aww,come on. They are step-sibling, they have to stay under one roof. Haha. It's like adding oil to the fire.

Adelaide MacGregor

I guess I have to install a new spell check.

Hieigirl17

Hehe. Suspicious situation isn't it?

dragondemoness91

Argh, correcting grammar! The bane of my existence! But I'll do it for you! Don't worry where's the story's going to, just enjoy the journey.

Ai-so

I'd love to see where's my story's going too…hehe


	10. Ch 9

**Summary:**Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Chapter 9**

Sucking in a truckload of oxygen in my lungs, trying to calm my erratically thumping heart, before I turned to face her. Forcing my face not to betray the turmoil I feel insides, I carefully chose my words.

"What exactly do you mean by misunderstanding? Between me and Yahiko?"

"Yes." she replied calmly. She's looking calm, her expression tranquil, and if I haven't seen the way her eyes clouded over or the way her hands were gripping the swings I wouldn't feel her pain.

"I don't want to know…"

She sensed my hesitation.

"But I have to tell you. I came here yesterday, and I met him. He's looking wretched, he wasn't eating right, wasn't sleeping right. He was the shadow of his former self. And I asked the reason why he's being that way. He finally told me that his girlfriend dumped him. "

She paused. I almost feel a stab of guilt. Almost. After all, he did cheat on me, with her. She continued.

"After several serious interrogation, he spilled out that you thought he …how should I say it…did the dirty deeds with me in the hotel that night. On what grounds that silly accusation came from?"

Her question shocked me. But the most shocking thing is the accusation in her question.

"I listened through a crack under the door of the room. I heard…voices." I admitted.

Her lips twitched humorously. Probably at the image of me pressing my ears at the crack under the door. My cheeks are heating up, remembering such a mortifying moment.

"Now think back. Think really carefully. Those voices. Describe to me those voices"

"Moaning. I heard moaning. And groaning. " I admitted reluctantly.

"And when you heard moaning, the first thing you think is…sex?"

She eyebrows went up a notch. I don't like the direction of her questions. I squirmed under her gaze.

"Yes." I stared at the single patch of grass near my toe, avoiding her gaze.

"People in pain moan and groan too,"

"Are you saying, the moaning I've heard, are the result of people in pain?" I can't help the incredulous gape I gave her.

"According to Yahiko, you told him that you read my message to him. The message where I asked him to come to my hotel room. Yes, I did invite him. Because I haven't seen him for some time. Not to mention, he's my distance cousin."

My eyebrows shoot up to the skies. Cousins? So when Yahiko said he's meeting with his cousin, it's the truth. He's being honest all this time. I wish I could kick myself on the head. Followed by the massive crush of conscience on my heart.

"And I miss him. I didn't live here. But sometimes I visit this town because I used to live here. All those sweet memories…" She looked around the park and smiled tenderly. I recognized that look. That look I always have when I was thinking about Aoshi. Heh. She's in love with someone related to her. Somehow, I could feel her plight.

"That night, I needed some company. And I asked him to come to my room. He, being the gentlemen he is, couldn't deny the pleas of a lonely girl like me. Especially not after I told him I sprained my ankles after a walk around town that afternoon. So he came to help me treat my ankle. You probably came in when he's massaging my swollen ankle"

"Are you saying that I heard you moaning because of your twisted ankle?" I echoed.

"Glad to get my point across. " She nodded solemly. Everything she said, everything I thought, everything I think I saw that night, everything Yahiko said, it all mashed together now, forming a full picture. It's crystal clear. It's my fault. I was wrong here.

"Damn"

"So now you know what to do?"

"Yes," Definitely. I need to clear things with Yahiko.

"You know where he's at right now. Right? Go to him."

I peeked at my wristwatch. Right now he's probably at his kendo practice. If I rush at his dojo now I would probably catch him after his kendo class. I slide a sideway gaze at Tsubame. She smiled as she feels my gaze, but her smile is weak and a slight tremble on her lower lips betrayed her feelings to the world. She bit her lip and turns her gaze downwards.

"Thanks Tsubame. I'm off now. See you. And thanks you," I gave her a wave and I took off in a run. From behind me I could hear her sobs, getting louder by the minute. Sorry Tsubame…but I have to do this.

It took 20 minutes of strenuous sprinting across town until I arrived at the Kamiya dojo. The dojo Yahiko attended his kendo lessons. Which accidentally belong to Kaoru's family. I was gasping, out of breath when Yahiko saw me.

"Misao??" Yahiko had the stunned expression printed on his face as I greeted him with a little finger wave. His eyes got a little watchful, brows knitting together, wondering why did I came here for

He stood in front of me, opening his mouth, trying to say something. I launched a flying angry demon bird kick before any word leaked out from his mouth. The blow landed on his abdomen. He let out a wheeze and with a stunned expression he flopped to the ground in pain.

" What was that about?" he asked incredulously.

"That one is for being stupid!" I answered, making his lips curl in anger.

"First you dumped me, now you come and attack me! What's wrong with you? Are you PMSing?"

PMSing? I'll show him PMSing. I kicked him on the shin and he took that chance to grab my leg and I landed awkwardly on him. He groaned as I flatten him, all breath knocked out of him, the loser of this struggle. I rolled off him, and lay beside him. I took a peek at him at the corner of my eyes. He snorted as he noticed, and suddenly the air if filled with our laughter. He slowly brought himself upright and he held a hand to me. I grabbed it, and he pulled me up with him.

"I met with Tsubame,"I said.

"I see."

"Why don't you tell me, explain clearly what happened" I demanded, poking his chest with a finger. He snorted,

"I tried. You weren't listening to me. You were so convinced that I cheated on you, you won't even consider my side of the story. Remember?"

It's true. I wasn't listening. Recalling back, I never did listen to his explanations. It's because I'm so sure of what happened I never tried to listen to his side of the story. I never asked him to explain himself. I never confronted him directly either. In fact, after I thought I heard him being unfaithful, I just jumped to conclusion. And I just ran. I ran away from him.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I was being immature" I am being immature. Afraid of being even more hurt, because of that I bolted like a rabbit dashing into a rabbit hole. Two other people got hurt because of me.

"I guess it hurt me that you wouldn't trust me. So I just, give up. The way you reject my reality, I just have to accept yours. Even though it's not true, I just agreed with everything you said. I was too depressed to say anything different. "he said quietly.

"Sorry that I hurt you…"

"So, what now? Want to give it another go?" he asked me. I looked him in the eyes, and took his hands. And I shook my head, dropping my gaze on the ground. He quickly took back his hands from my grip, eyes empty. But I felt his acceptance in his silent stance. We knew we would never go back to the way we were. There's no second chances for us. I loved him, but I just don't love him enough to put my trust in him. I realized it now.

"Actually, I'm here because I want to tell you that you have someone who loves you from the bottom of her heart. She loves you so much; my feeling for you is insignificant compared to hers,"

"Who?" he's totally taken aback.

"Tsubame, you dense man!"

"But she's my cousin!" He answered, shocked.

"A distance cousin," I said softly.

"That's true." He said. A light came in his eyes as he contemplated on that fact.

"I would like to give this relationship another go, but now, meeting her, she totally changed my perception. I couldn't have the courage what she did back then. She loved you so much, so please give her a chance. Go to her. Right now she's probably crying her heart out, "

"Where's she? "

"At the park. You know. That park. "

"Heh. You favorite place. It's okay with you? Leaving me with her? "

"I have to admit, someone else caught my attention. I think I love him. I think I'm going to tell him right after this" as soon as the words escaped from my lips, I stopped dead. Shocked at my own resolve. Voicing it made it all more amazing. Despite everthing, despite the odds against me, I have made my mind. I will tell him how I feel, no matter what is the consequences. I will do it.

"I guess this is it. Best of luck with your confession. Goodbye"

He swooped down on me and pressed a chaste kiss on my lips. My whole body stiffens with shock. He moved his lips against mine and I gave in to the warmth and tenderness of his kiss. And then I placed my palm against his chest, halting him. We broke apart. He smiled. He whispered near my ears,

" One last kiss, just to get over you," He pressed another kiss at my temple before leaving me. Leaving me for Tsubame.

Sometimes goodbye is the only way.

Pursing my lips, touching it with a single finger. Finding that the heat from his lips is fading.

This is settled. Even though we were not together, we knew that we would still have each other as friends. Now I have to worry about telling Aoshi that I like him. I guess I have to explain why I didn't go to his office back then and tell him what I feel for him. I groaned and winced as I recall the expression he had when I defied him in the lab. This isn't going to be easy, but it's now or never, before I lost my courage.

Out of the blue, I felt a piercing gaze, stabbing me with sharp icicles at my back. The fine hairs behind my neck rise as I felt the hostile vibe from behind me. I broke up in cold sweat, as I swung slowly to face the source of the menace I felt.

I conjured him. There's no explanation. No good explanation on how he just materialize out of nowhere at this very place. One second I was thinking about him, and now he's here. And he doesn't look pleased at all.

His blue eyes are narrowed in barely concealed contempt, lips narrowed in in barely concealed distaste. Yahiko's right. I need luck to deal with this. All the luck in the universe. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and walked right to him. I barely opened my lips to explain to him the situation when he cut me off.

"So…that's why you turned your cell off. So that no one could disturb you and him making out." he said coldly.

What? Oh no, he saw that? He saw Yahiko kissing me. This situation is going downhill.

"Let me explain-"

"It's none of my business," he said aloofly and turned his head away . I reached for him and grabbed hold on his sleeves. He eyed me with his cold blue eyes. Only, this time, when my eyes met with his, my whole body is wrecked with shivers. I don't know what's he's feeling. I couldn't read his eyes. I he angry? Disappointed? Annoyed? He closed his eyes from my probing gaze, twisted his way out of my grasped and simply walked away. Just like that.

"Wait!! Listen!! "I screamed, but he totally ignored me.

I lost it. I grabbed my slipper off my foot and aimed it at his back. It landed right on mark, but it doesn't even faze him. He didn't flinch. No reaction at all. And walking farther and farther away from me.

Now I knew exactly how Yahiko feels. Aoshi did exactly what I did to Yahiko. Running away. He ran. I had it. If he screamed and yelled I could handle it. I could just yell and rant and screamed back at him. The cold reaction stumped me. And I was so disappointed, my heart plunged into my stomach. He's all ice, I'm all fire. There's no way that I can make it work between us.

Kneeling in the dirt, I lowered my head and squeezed my eyes shut.I'm in my all time low. I had enough. Eyes filled with tears, I told myself I'm giving up on him.

**To be continued….**

Couldn't resist adding a little Tsubame/Yahiko in this story. And lots of love to you guys!!

**Chawan**  
I want to know too. Why Aoshi agreed too fast? Why? Hehe. I'll let him tell you the reason himself. Hey, I'm not pressuring you to review every time, okay? Kisses!

**prettyshinomori**  
Heh,I did that cliffhanger on purpose. I'm so evil.

**Ipanema**  
Sorry,my chapters are mostly short. I'll try to write longer next chapter. :P

**TeneBra-chan**  
I guess surprise is not a bad thing. Is it?

**Evee-San**  
Thank you! Awesome 5 star support from you. Thanks!!

**s-makn**  
Triple A's (An Angry Aoshi? An Awesome Aoshi? An Aggressive Aoshi?) are followed in the next chapter. Hehe.And yes,you got the song right! Just watched Simpsons the movie and couldn't resist adding that song in.

**Adelaide MacGregor**  
Yikes. That is such a mortifying mistake. How could I miss that glaring mistake! Noo!! Thanks, I'll correct it immediately.

**Misao-Cute Weasel**  
It's okay? I can continue adding more outrageous plot twists? Can I? Hehe.

**dragondemoness91**  
I just couldn't help it. I tend to mix a lot of my ideas in my story with no idea how to tie things up in the end. But I promise you it won't be like that in this story. I'll try my best!


	11. Ch 10

**Summary:** Rules of Attraction's spin off. Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Chapter 10**

"You are going to avoid him from now on," I said out loud. Talking to myself. While I walked around aimlessly. Letting my legs take charge, wherever it wants to go, I don't care.

Avoiding him? How could I do that? Not only will I see him at school, he's moving in Aoiya soon. I will be bumping with him 24 hours a day. The only way to avoid him is to move away from Aoiya and change my school. There's no way Jiiya's going to allow that. Then I have to wait till I graduate and enter some far away college. Until I graduate I'll just have to lock myself in my room and pray that he would stay away from me.

I know I need to explain it all to Aoshi. But...

Big plans. Hah.

"Misao!" I heard before I felt the force of a petite female catapulting into my arms. That caught me off guard, and the impact nearly toppled us sideways into the shrub lining the pathway.

"Eh…"I said, distracted by the way she sobbed in my arms.

"Tsubame? What's wrong?" I asked her again.

"Thanks you Misao," she said, looking up and smiling widely.

Even with the tears running down her face, she looked radiant. She's crying with joy. I guessed things go well with Yahiko. He's coming out of his car, giving me a little wave with his fingers. He then threw a look at Tsubame, rummaging his hair in confusion. And shrugged at me. He can't handle Tsubame's tears well. I grinned. They made a cute couple. I wish for their happiness.

"Help me here," Yahiko whispered to me, throwing a weird look at Tsubame.

"It's okay, she's just…happy" I whispered back. He shrugged again, but gave a fond smile to the quivering bunch in my arms.

"Did thing's go well…with you confession?" he asked.

That question threw me in the deepest abyss of despair. I guess it must be transparent on my face as he was taken aback by my response.

"Oh by the way, did you meet with him?" Tsubame asked after she calmed herself down a bit.

"Who?" Yahiko and I asked in unison.

"I was…crying on the swing at the park…when a guy came and asked me if I seen a girl. He gave me your description. So I told him to go to the Kamiya dojo. I even gave him directions. After that he gave me tissues before he went off to search for you," She waved a half used Kleenex packet at us.

"How did this guy look like?" Yahiko asked, curious.

"Tall, very tall. Black hair, blue eyes. Lean body. Long legs. He's hot" Tsubame giggled, blushing hotly.

Even amidst her tears it doesn't seem to prevent her from appreciating a fine male specimen. Although she did give a general description of him, I knew who it was. That guy must be Aoshi. His very presence turned sobbing girls to giggling girls. So that explains how he turned up at the dojo. I didn't conjure him up after all. He's got no superhuman powers that would made him capable to teleport to my location at his whim.

"Do you know him?" Yahiko eyed the blushing Tsubame, and narrowed his eyes.

He turned his eyes to me, questioningly. I stared hard at the ground; a dark cloud hovered over me, darkening my world. Encapsulating me in a bubble I created from my own misery.

"Hooo…it's him!" Yahiko said, gauging from my reaction, putting this and that together and coming up with a conclusion.

"I don't want to talk about him,"I said. Final. No arguments.

Tsubame and Yahiko changed knowingly glanced, and suddenly both of them grab me and dragged me away from the spot where I'm wallowing in misery.

"Where you guys taking me?" I protested.

"To share our happiness. We're taking you to the theme park!" Tsubame exclaimed.

"Screaming yourself hoarse will make you forget anything else. And it gave you endorphins." Yahiko said, winking. I resigned. Right then I don't care even if they take me to hell, I'll welcome it with open arms. Cause I feel like hell right now.

They took me to all of the extreme rides. I've been tumbled around, turned upside down, held up high and did some free falling, been rotated in continuous circle and much more for the past several hours. And I did scream myself hoarse. Not only that, all those rides caused me unable to walk in a straight line, and made my face beet red. A theme park gets me high. Police would have to arrest me cause I looked like I'm under the influence. Under the influence of too much endorphins.

"Hey, let's try this for a change," Tsubame said. Pointed to a ride on our left side. The sign board is filled with pink hearts, cupids, roses and swan feathers. It reads "The Love Tunnel"

"No way, " I shook my head to emphasize my refusal to even enter the queue.

"The three of us can fit in it, "Yahiko said, agreeing with every little thing Tsubame said. He's such a dope.

I shook my head. Yes, the ride is made for two, and even though it can fit four people of my size, I'm still not going on such a lame ride. It's time to let the two of them on their own. It's the ride through a tunnel inside an artificial swan boat. I grimaced with that thought and refused to even step inside the queue. They persuaded me but finally gave up. I waved goodbye from afar, and I was left there waiting for them all alone. Trying to distract myself from the loneliness, I walked to the notice board next to the queue to the love tunnel ride. There on the board are photos of couples smiling at the camera as they journey together through the love tunnel. I grimaced. They all look so happy together. Good for them, bad for me.

One picture drew my attention. It was a ratty, tattered old picture, yellowed with age. This is an old theme park, it have been here for almost twenty years. The photo they pasted here is collected over from the first day this park opened until now. I went slack jawed at the picture.

It's a picture of me and Aoshi. In the love tunnel swan boat. I was half hidden in his trench coat; he was protecting me from droplets of water from the turbulent ride. Both of us were grinning madly. I stared at Aoshi's face. He's smiling! Yikes. I wish I could see him smile. A wide smile. Wide, ear to ear smile, fully revealing all his teeth. Not his usual subtle twitch of his mouth. And the most important thing is I wanted him to smile at me. Just for me.

I stared at the date of the picture. It's almost ten years ago. It finally dawned to me that this picture is probably taken before that accident happened. We were on the way back from a theme park. That theme park is probably this one. Wherever I go, I can't really escape from him. Aoshi's everywhere.

Where is he right now? Still pissed of at me? I really need to explain it all to him. But thinking of his wrath really gave me cold feet.

"Hey, you forget your stuffs," Yahiko said, handing me over my wallet and cell phone, breaking me free from my reverie. I lost track of time, as I stared at that picture blankly. I left my stuffs inside a deposit box before going on the rides; they would just fall out of my jeans on those extreme rides.

I looked at the cell phone. It's still off. Looking at the dark skies and the stars, it's already late. Too late. Jiiya would be worried. He would have called me tons of time already. I could feel my head pounding with the thought of meeting with an angry Jiiya. I'll just have to climb up the tree to my room and lock myself inside, hiding from him.

Turning on my cell, I noticed there a lot of missed calls. All from the same number. None from Jiiya. Must be Aoshi's cell number. I saved his number. Easier to screen my calls that way.

A call came in from an unknown number, and I answered it immediately.

"Hello?"

"Is this Miss Misao?"

"Yes,"

"I have an unconscious man here. I called this number cause it's the most dialed number in his cell. I think you have to pick him up before other woman gets their hands on him," She let out a small dizzy giggle. I recognized that giggle. It's an Aoshi induced giggle.

Unconscious? How? What? Is he okay?

"Where is he?" I asked frantically.

This can't be it? I goggled at the place in front of us. It's a bar. This is the address that woman gave me. And I remembered when she's talking to me, there's a lot of noise in her background. If Aoshi's unconscious in this very place, he must be drunk. Or he got involved in a drunken brawl and got knocked unconscious. There's no other plausible explanation. I just made Yahiko break all the traffic rules in the book just to get here as fast as I can just to pick up a drunk. I thought it's a real emergency. I was trying to avoid him, and look now I'm practically ran to him with just one phone call. I'm such a dope. Absolutely spineless.

I made a disgusted noise deep in my throat.

The three of us gets out of the automobile and went inside. It's filled to the brim with people, the lights flashing and the beats deafening. But my eyes immediately gravitate towards a slumped figure.

He's lying on one of his arms; another arm is holding a cocktail glass, empty except for a single stick of three green olives in it. I shoveled my way through the crowd to get to him. The bartender saw me and she smiled.

"Misao?" Her voice belongs to the caller back then.

"Yeah,"

"He's your brother?" She asked.

"Yeah," I agreed automatically. He is my stepbrother after all. No need to bother the bartender with the details of my relationship with him.

"He's gorgeous, but sadly he couldn't hold on his liquor at all," she tskked at the fallen figure of Aoshi.

"How much he had?" I asked, curious. She pointed to the single empty glass with a mini umbrella and slice of lemon in it. Counting the cocktail glass he had in his hands, he only had, what, only two glasses?

"Two?"

"Actually, one. This-"she took hold of the glass with the umbrella and shook is slightly." is iced lemon tea".

Yahiko let out a loud snigger, and Tsubame elbowed his ribs to stop him.

I let out a smirk despite myself. This actually ruins his all tough macho manly image. Heck he is even worse than me. Imagine passing out because of one glass of alcohol. Maybe this is the side effect drinking all those weird tea collection of his. I said my thanks to the bartender and excused ourselves.

I gestured to Yahiko to take hold of his right arm and I took hold of his left arm. And somehow, very awkwardly the three of us dragged the heavy load back to Yahiko's car. I'm glad that I asked for the two of them for help. I couldn't imagine dragging him out of the bar all by myself. He's extremely heavy. Even with the three of us it's hard.

Breathing hard, finally we dumped him at the backseat and wiped our sweats off.

"Where does he live?"Tsubame asked. He lived somewhere near our school but I have no idea where's the exact location. All I know that he lives with a woman. He's going to move in Aoiya soon so maybe it's okay if I bought him back to Aoiya. Oh, Jiiya hates drunk people. I'll have to sneak him in somehow.

"Let's go to Aoiya,"I said, climbing in the backseat, propping Aoshi upright before sitting next to him. Yahiko shrugged and the four of us took off to Aoiya in record speed.

On the way, I find my eyes kept sliding to look at the person beside me. The hard panes of his face is softened by sleep, his usually piercing gaze is shielded by his straight lashes, his lips made soft and pliable in his sleep…I dragged my gaze away from his lips, denying the temptation, the overwhelming desire too…heat converged on my cheeks as I mentally kick myself on the head. He's dangerously attractive. He's a threat to the entire female race. I forced myself to gaze out of the window.

Immediately after arrival, we dragged him out of the car. The four of us stood in front of Aoiya, cause the only entrance to Aoiya is the front gate. Aoshi's right arm is draped over my shoulders, and I winced at his dead weight. It's going to be a trial to drag him inside. I waved at Tsubame and Yahiko and took one step towards Aoiya.

Suddenly, Aoshi stirred. I heaved a breath of relief. Now he can walk by himself. I let go of his arms and slide a look at his face. His eyes are open, but they are filmy, unfocused. He's still drunk. He suddenly took a big step towards Yahiko and bam, Yahiko fell to the ground, clutching his face. Tsubame let out a yelp and hugged Yahiko, fiercely protecting him from Aoshi's menacing figure. I flew across the distance and immediately knocked Aoshi to the ground with my weight. He landed face down, cushioned by his arms and went out like a light.

"What the hell was that?" Yahiko said, looking incredulously at Aoshi. Both me and Tsubame are staring at Yahiko's eye. He got a black eye from Aoshi's fist.

"I'm so sorry!!" I was aghast by Aoshi's drunken brutality.

"Nice tackle you gave him, though," Yahiko grinned sheepishly, remembering that moment I stopped Aoshi.

"Maybe we should get going," Tsubame interjected. I agreed, and I waved goodbye as soon as they entered the car and drive away, leaving me all alone in front of Aoiya's main door with Aoshi unconscious on the ground.

It's a miracle how I manage to drag him across the yard, into the main door, across the now empty Aoiya restaurant, across Aoiya's courtyard, up the stair and across the hallways to my room without being seen. I would put him to his room, if I knew which one among Aoiya's twenty plus empty rooms belong to him. Plus the unused rooms are locked. So that means I have to hide him in my room. I threw him on my bed and I went to my sofa to throw myself down there.

I got an unconscious Aoshi lying on my bed. I should join him, should I? That puts a huge grin on my face. But,being the genteel lady I am, I'm giving him the bed, I'll just sleep on the sofa tonight. With that, I closed my eyes to slip into a peaceful slumber.

I lost track of time. He suddenly made a vague sound in his throat, and automatically I opened an eye, turned sideways and peeked at him. He stirred and opened his eyes. His eyes inspected the room, dazed and confused. Then he peered at me, eyes narrowing as he realized I'm there. He immediately tried to sit up just to fail miserable.

"Where…am I?" he managed, weakly. I noticed his speech is a little bit slurred. Noticeable if you really are looking for it. He is under the influence, but pretended to not let that show. I walked to him and sat on my bed, right next to him.

"My room,"

"Mmm...wh..whaat??" He spluttered.

"Yes, you heard me right. You are now in my room, sleeping in my bed. You cause nothing but trouble for me today. I have to drag the unconscious you from that bar across town to Aoiya. You owe me."

I could see the cogs moving inside his brains, letting my words sink in. The silence stretched.

"First I want to you to hear me out, I want to explain myself. About what happened back then," I took a deep breath, searching for words. The right word to explain what happened back then, when he spoke, cutting me off.

"It's okay. I guess it's my entire fault. It's not my place to tell you what to do. Or who you can kiss. I have no right to act like an over protective brother to you. After I left you 10 years ago, I have forfeited my right to do so."

My heart sank. He looks at me like a brother looks at his little sister. Suddenly his eyes darkened,and mouth set hard in a grim determination as he eyed me.

"But it bad to see you running back to the person that cheated on you and made you cry. I wish you could find someone that would make you happy. I'm glad that I hit that cheating jerk. He doesn't deserve you. I, as your brother, will never approve of him. If I see him again, I will not hesitate to punch him again" he said with a grim satisfaction.

To my horror. He remembered it clearly. And clearly he didn't regret his brutality. And what's with his cold dislike to Yahiko?

"You idiot! He helped us." I hissed vehemently. He stared at me. I continued.

"First of all, listen to me! Listen! Stop making your own assumptions! I was just about to explain to you when you abruptly ignored me back then! I wasn't going back to him. That kiss you saw, it's just a good bye kiss. We are over!" I ended every line with a hard jab on his chest. He watched me rage, wincing with every jab I gave him.

"Second, he did not cheat on me. It's all a big misunderstanding. And we've cleared it. But we are not going back together. You want to know why??"

I grabbed him by his lapels and pulled him close to me. I closed my eyes and our lips met. I let go and stared at his face intently.

"It's because I love you" I said finally

To be continued…

I have a question. How to spell Jiiya. Is it jiiya or jiya? Anyway.The ending is coming closer and closer guys! Hehe...and not forgetting...

Hieigirl17  
I've already have everything plotted out, I choose when I want to reveal them.

len  
Updating ASAP.I try to update weekly.

ishie07  
Whoa...i'm evil...but not that evil...

Henry-Coreen-Lover125

Thanks for the alert. I;m glad to hear that this story have grown. I hope the characters have grown too.

lil-battousai girl  
Aoshi's mad! Run!

s-makn  
An alcoholic Aoshi made his debut. Hehe. He's not that childish, I always thought he sees thing in his way without really thinking of others and kind of bull headed sometimes.

.Evee-San  
I can't always have my characters have it easy can't I.

TeneBra-chan  
Thanks for the compliment!

Adelaide MacGregor  
One day, I will wait for you to say, that I have no grammatical error at all. One day...Hehe.

spirtually-lunar  
luv u luv u. hehe

dragondemoness91  
I always have plans for Yahiko, and finally I chose to reveal that part in the last chapter. I like him, and I will not make him into a jerk. Foreshadowing? Maybe...maybe not. And thanks for the detailed review.Hugs. Helps a lot in my decisions for the following chapters.


	12. Ch 11

**Summary: **Misao found herself in an awkward situation with an arrogant guy. What a shock to find that he is the new chemistry teacher. AM

**Disclaimer:** I don't own RK.

Enjoy guys. This is the last chapter.

**Chapter 11**

In my mind, I always imagined the perfect scenario. It was at a romantic place, filled with a scent of spring flowers blooming, with the summer sun shining upon us, not to mention with beautiful autumn sceneries of fallen leaves to complete my plan. I would be wearing a beautiful gown, and my hair would be perfectly coiffed, my face perfectly done with makeup. He would be dressed in a stunningly well tailored tuxedo, white in color. I would then grab both of his hands and looked him deep in his eyes, channeling my feeling for him. Then I would say that magic words. That three word. And then he would blush and smiled happily for me, and say that three magic words and took me in his arms kissed me to show how much he feels for me.

That is how I imagined it would be, no matter how unrealistic that situation would be.

Reality is not always as beautiful as the fantasy I constructed in my head. But I never realized how ugly reality can get.

No. I wasn't in any picture perfect place; I'm in my own room, which I haven't really cleaned in a while. Not a picture perfect setting for anything. My laundry is spread haphazardly on one side of the room. I haven't taken out the trash in my overflowing bin, filled with all the embarrassing thing, like a used cotton bud or a used roll of sanitary napkin. I had carelessly thrown my text book, mixed with left over food on my desk, next to my open laptop with the wallpaper of Orlando Bloom in a scandalously hot pose. My bed is a mess, and so is my blanket. My little smelly blanket that I never washed. Crap.

And look at both of us. Most importantly, look at me. I'm not wearing any provocative little black dress. Nor my hair is perfectly coiffed. It's all sweaty from dragging Aoshi up here and it badly needs a good brushing. My face, I assume, are probably shiny and sweaty, not to mention a little bit sunburned after a whole day at the theme park. I believe that I do not smell like a bouquet of flower right now.

But that's not it. I can't believe I did it. I grabbed him like an animal and just stole his lips aggressively. I did some serious role reversal here. In my dreams he was the aggressor, he would be the one who stole my kissed in the darkest night. He's the one who initiated things between us. And I would be the blushing girl who would always say no to his lips but in the end would finally gave in to the sweet pleasure of it.

I guess I read too many romance. Giving me all this weird images in my head.

And his wide eyes incomprehension is not the reaction I always dreamed about. But in my dreams he would be sober, and now he's not. And his lips taste of alcohol. In fact right now he reeks of alcohol. He needs a dip in the bathtub real bad.

Look at him. He's not at his very best right now. His white shirt is rumpled, with several buttons open , revealing his chest. His hair is messed up, not the usual neat way he always set his hair. His eyes are narrowed, perhaps from the sensitivity to the glaring light in my bedroom.

But wait a minute, somehow, in his state of severe messiness, he looked even more delicious like this. He may not be neat, but he's still as attractive as ever. Sexy. Especially with the heavy lidded eyes.

I glued my eyes shut. I feel my head throbbing. I could sense by the way his pupils widened when I confessed back then. The feel that time stands still. I could feel the shock from his stance.

Oh no, he's going to reject me. He's going to push me away and run out of my room. Next time in the class he's going to avoid my gaze, and he would then ignore my presence. And when he moved in Aoiya the next day, we would just proceed in ignoring my existence, only talking to Jiiya but not me. I have single handedly destroyed my relationship with him. Not on as a student to a teacher relationship, but to a brother and sister relationship too. Didn't he just punch Yahiko because of his brotherly care? From now on he wouldn't care less about me.

I felt a soft touch on my cheek. My eyes flew open as I stared at Aoshi as he caressed my face with his right hand. He's not actually smiling or anything, but his eyes actually soften as he gazed on me. Comforting me.

Why is he comforting me? Why did he do it? What with his tender touch. Everything about his action, feels brotherly to me. I feel a panic attack bubbling to the surface. Oh crap I like him. But I don't like him as a sister to a brother. If he said he like me like a sibling, my heart would probably stop and I'll die of a heart attack.

He then threw his right arm around my neck,pulling me closer to him. Another slipped to the small of my back, circling my waist. He gave a small smile as he leaned closer and our lips touched. My eyes went wide open with shock. He tilted his head and moved against my lips in sweet, slow caressing motions. Trembling softly,I gave myself to the sweet sensation his lips gave me. Sensing my weakened will, he took the chance to deepen our kiss. Oh, the torturous pressure, the slow heat, the delicious mating of our lips, his explorations leaves a trail of sensuous feeling...I was lost in the pleasure of it.

My heart was thudding wildly when suddenly his eyes went glassy as he slumped on my bed, completely inert. I gaped at his sleeping form incredulously. Did he faint? Did my confession and kiss is too much shock for his system? I did imagine he would run away screaming in horror. But fainting? This is an insult! I would prefer a straight forward rejection. Fainting is really too much! I thought he's going to give me a heart attack. But he's the one who got it.

I moved away in a huff, hurt by his sudden loss of consciousness, when I feel a tug at my arm. He's holding my arm in a firm grip. I tugged and tried to loosen his grip, but nothing would work. I sat there, looking at his face, and suddenly I heard it. A soft sound, but audible nonetheless. He's snoring. He didn't faint. He's sleeping peacefully.

I gave him a mighty kick in the shins. Nothing. No reaction, even though I have used all my might and my toes were throbbing with the pain from the impact. Nothing at all. He's like a lifeless doll now. No matter what I do to him he would never feel anything. Hell, I doubt he would remember anything that happened tonight. He's stoned.

My lips curved into an evil smile. Maybe I should take advantage of this situation. I mean, I could take off his cloths without any rejection from him. His buttons are half undone already, and the way his lean chest looked through the see thru white shirt is too tantalizing.

Mental head slap. Stop it Misao. It's bad enough that you stole his lips without his permission back then. What evil thing are you going to do to him right now? Stop with the indecent thought you have in you mind Misao!

I tried to pry my arms away from his vise like grip, but to avail. I just sat there in silence, and then I finally shrugged and lie next to him. I can't get away from him; I'll just have to join him. My bed is quite big anyway; it can fit the two of us just fine. I'm just going to sleep next to him, I won't do anything to him and I doubt the intoxicated Aoshi would do anything to me. I'm just going to sleep…I'm too tired to do anything anyway….just sleep….Zzzzz…..

My whole world moved violently and I jerked awake from my sleep. What's this? An earthquake? I look at my arm. Aoshi's hands are still gripping it. The thing is his grip is getting tighter and tighter, and I winced with the building pain. I knew the next morning there would be bruising on my wrist because of the pressure from his hand. What's wrong with him? It took me a second to notice the vibration from his touch. I turned to look at him. He's cradled in a fetal position, his whole body curled up in a protective circle, and he's trembling. Is it cold in here? I'm sure it's not the temperature. He trembled harder and suddenly tossed and turned in his sleep, mumbling and muttering under his breath, too soft for my ears to make out what he said. Beads of sweat started to form on his skin, and his face is contorted in pain. I realized that he's having a nightmare.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around him, trying my best to stop his nightmare from taking over him. Cradling his head in my protective embrace, he stopped trashing wildly. But he kept muttering, muttering things against his darkest nightmare. Pleading, pleading for forgiveness. Begging for mercy. Tightening my clutches, it got me thinking, what devils he kept inside his mind. What haunted his nights.

Wryly, I thought, maybe he was too traumatized by my kiss plus confession that he got nightmares. That is a huge possibility after all.

His arms circled around me, finally calming down, and his chest rise and fall slowly with the slow rhythm of a sleeping child. He calmed down. But heck, now he even got me trapped in his prison like embrace. I sighed, and just tried to find a comfortable position to sleep. I reclined my head in his arms and smiled. Maybe this is not a bad thing. Even if he rejected me, I could boast to Kaoru that I've used his arms as my pillow. That would be something good to brag about. I'm not telling her about that kiss. That hot searing kiss he gave me. Not especially when he fainted right after that. I can't really brag about that, right?

I fell asleep with a foolish grin on my face.

The sound of shower woke me up. Aoshi's no longer sleeping in my bed. Whilst waiting for him to finish his shower I decided to make him a cup of tea. I have no fancy lapsang souchong or earl grey or whatever, only my trusty Lipton teabag, but I guess that's okay. Pouring the hot water into the cup, inhaling the aromatic steams, calms my nerves a bit. The door handle to my bathroom clicked, and it opened, revealing a wet male specimen, wearing only a white towel (mine!), dangerously riding low on his hips. One tug, and the rest is history.

That wet male stared at me. And the atmosphere changed. My room literally sparkled with awkwardness. His eyes only landed for a split second on me before he immediately averted his gaze. What's with this awkwardness? His reaction is so unnerving, my hand shook violently till I spilled most of the hot tea over my hands, the rest flowed to the floor.

"Aaaaaaaaaa!!!" I screamed, watching in horror as my smooth pale skin transmuted into splotchy red blisters.

Immediately he had my hand in his grip,as he dragged me into my bathroom and placed my hands under the shower head. He turned the shower on and the water flowed over my blistering hand, cooling it. Inadvertently I got myself wet in the process. When he's satisfied that I'm no longer in pain, he turned off the faucet and took me out. He asked me to sit on my bed while he's rummaging under my pillows for something. To my surprise he retrieved the hankie I've hidden there. Folding it into a triangle,he sat next to me and carefully bandaged my hands. He shook his head and muttered under his breath in the process.

"You have to be careful." he said finally, tying the bandage firmly.

"uh...the...the hankie...how..." I stammered.

"I slept on your bed. I used your pillow. It's not really a surprise that I accidentally came across it last night. How did you find this?" he asked, eyes accusing. I lowered my head and proceeding in telling him how he left it at the park bench the first time he met me. He accepted the explanation calmly.

We both sat in silence. The silence became unbearable. He moved, standing up, and walked to the pile of clothes. He dressed in his white shirt, buttoning them carefully.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" I asked, tentatively. His fingers stopped working, but only for a split second. He finished buttoning up his shirt.

"I asked you, do you remember? Do you remember what I told you? Do you?" He abruptly turned his back at me, and leaned down to take his slacks off the floor. And he slipped a leg in his pants, totally ignoring me.

If I wasn't so emotionally unstable this morning I would take that chance to truly admire the view of his long, lithe legs. He's dressing up in front of me. Many would pay for this privilege. I would enjoy the show. Now I'm too disturbed, by all that's happened last night, and the way he ignored my questions. Because that doesn't bode well for me.

"I remember,"he said. He's fully dressed now, and he turned to face me. His eyes are still averted.

"What did I say back then," I whispered,walking to face him.

"You love me," he whispered, so soft I have to strain my ears to hear it. And there's this trembling in his voice.

"And what is your answer?"I prodded him on. I needed to know. He can't just left me hanging. Especially after his kiss.

"This is my answer,"

He moved himself closer to me, and lowered his face. With one hand tilting my face up to meet his gaze, he looked at my lips with an intense gaze and moved to kiss me. I immediately pushed him away, automatic. I will not let him kiss me unless I am sure what's he's feeling for me.

"Do you like me?" I demanded. He sighed. The silence stretched. And he sighed. He took my hands and guided it to his chest.

"You have occupied this part of me for the past 12 years." he said softly. His words took my breath away. He let go of my hand, and it fall limply to my side. He turned away and walked to the door.

"You liked me, not as a sister...?"

"Jiiya would kill me if he knew what I feel about you,"he said wryly. His hand are on the doorknob, twisting it slowly. Trying to open the door.

"But you said that you didn't approve of Yahiko, as a BROTHER!"

He sighed. "I am your brother. I'm your step brother after all"

"But you loved me"

He closed his eyes. He opened them after several seconds, but still he couldn't look at me in the eyes, he kept his gaze away and his head moved one milimeter up and then down again. Is he saying yes? Suddenly I saw his sculpted cheekbones are a little bit rosy. That revelation feel like a kick to my guts. Is he being shy? The broody emotionless Aoshi Shinomori blushing? I pinched my cheek, and yelped as the sharp pain attacked my system. I'm not dreaming.

"Why?" I couldn't help questioning him. Because it all seemed too good to be true.

"Why, huh?" he said thoughtfully.

He's not being convincing. Is he mocking me? Or is it real? I had a nagging suspicion.

"Are you still drunk?" I asked.

"I'm sober, if my massive headache is any proof." He winced as he massages his temple.

"You loved me?"I asked him in my smallest voice, one final time.

He smiled. His smile, the real and elusive smile. The smile that had never before displayed in public before. A smile that shined like the morning sun contrasting the dark skies. A smile that displayed the rows of white, perfect sized, toothpaste model teeth. He looked odd, smiling instead of being all tight lipped, but he still looks hot to me.

He smiled. Suddenly he removed all my doubts with that one smile

"This road we will take will be long and winding, but are you willing to take the first step together?" he said, holding a hand, extended to me. Beckoning me to take it. It's a proposal. My heart leaped giddily with happiness. My hands moved on its own accords, as if I got caught in his magnetic field, and latched to his hand.

This is too good to be true. I really had no hope that he would accept my feeling too easily. But to admit that he loved me, to my delight, far longer that I loved him really are out of my expectations. And this. What does he meant by this? The road will be long and winding? For what? Our relationship? Yes, there are odds stacked against us. He's my step brother. What will Jiiya think? He's my teacher? What will the school think?

As he opened the door and took we a single step forward,together, I knew, that whatever happens from now on, come what may, I will face it. Because now I know I'm not alone in this struggle. I got him. I got Aoshi-sama!! Whooot!

**The end...**

Haha. Surprise! This is the last chapter. Yes! It's the end! The next chapter is the long epilogue from Aoshi's POV. Something can't never be explained from Misao's POV. But I have to say I suck at Aoshi's POV.

I feel that it's too abrupt. I wanted to write more! I wanted to write about Jiiya discovering their relationship. I want to write about the school discovering their relationship. I wanted to write about their past, why Misao doesn't remember anything, and she could finally discover them memories they had together. I wanted to write about Aoshi's past!! I want to introduce OC's, I want to introduce the girl that Aoshi's been living with, and more.

So much to do, too little time, I am going to get a little but busy in the next month. I couldn't write and update regularly. So that's why I took this chance to end this story. At least I could proudly say that I have one completed story.

This ending is the ending of a new beginning. Hehe. Yes, I will let you guys think of what's going to happen next.

I can always start a new story but I sure sucks at ending one. I wanted to start this story with a drunk Misao and ended with a drunk Aoshi. And I wanted this to be a short 5 chaptered super light story. But things doesn't really go according to my plan. Yikes.

For you guys that have been reviewing and reading from the first chapter till now, thanks and lots of love to you guys. See you in the epilogue.


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